It was an accident, I swear
by Dp-Marvel94
Summary: A strange mishap in the Fenton lab leads to Jack accidently cloning Phantom. With that, secrets are revealed including Danny's status as a halfa and the existence of his other clone, Danielle. The new clone, Jamie Fenton, struggles with his identity and place in his family, while the Fenton parents adjust to life with three half ghost kids.
1. Part 1

Based of a Tumblr post by ectoblood. What if one of Jack's inventions backfired and cloned Danny? What if Jack did not realize what he did at first? What if he found out his son was Phantom?

ectoblood on Tumblr made this post( post/188458998120/imagine-how-fucking-pissed-vlad-would-be-that-jack) about what if Jack accidentally cloned Danny. This didn't really go the direction I was expecting and veered away from the original post but I still really like it.

Jack stands in front of a box shaped metal contraption in the Fentonworks laboratory. He had been working on a contraption to extrapolate a ghost's core and ectosignature from an ectoplasm sample. And he finally managed to get a sample of Phantom's ectoplasm. Grinning at his achievement, he puts the sample in the machine. The screen flashes green as the box lights up. Then there's a huge electrical surge In the lab. The lab lights flash and a high pitched beeping noise comes from the machine. Jack stares in awe as the tubing linking the box and their ghost containment unit lifts up green. Then ectoplasm flowing from the portal and through their collection system meets the green electricity coming from the box. In the unit, the ectoplasm swirls and suddenly a very surprised and confused Danny Phantom materializes into the unit. He blinks at Jack, titling his head in confusion. Then there's a flash of light and the now naked figure drops like a sack of potatoes.

Jack studies the seemingly passed out figure, noticing the pale skin and black hair. Face skewed in confusion, the scientist walks around the unit until he can see the figures face. Jack's blood then runs cold as he notices- the "ghost" is the splitting image of his son.

Now his blood boils. He's pissed. That ectoplasmic scum Phantom shapeshifted into the image of his son. The ghost obviously plans to trick Jack or gain his sympathy. Does he really think Jack is the stupid? With ectogun raised, he enters the unit and approaches the figure. Up close the resemblance is even more striking, perfectly identical even down to the freckles on his face. Something about the image makes Jack's heart clinch. As angry as he is, as much as he wants to shot the ghost, to tie him up and torture him for answers, he can't not when the figure's copying his son's form so perfectly.

He exits the unit and grabs a blanket from the closet to cover the figure's naked body. As he approaches again, Jack notices something surprising. The "ghost" is breathing steadily as if asleep. He takes off his gloves and puts his hand in from of the figure's nose. Jack's eyes widen when he feels air blowing across his fingers. The ghost is actually breathing but ghosts don't breathe. But maybe it's an act to appear more human. Biting his lip, Jack decides to test something else. He gently feels the figure's neck, searching for a pulse. His jaw drops when he finds it. He...has a heartbeat. Phantom the ghost who Jack somehow summoned and is now masquerading as his son, has a pulse and a heartbeat. But a ghost can't fake a heartbeat, maybe they could fake breathing but never a heartbeat.

A potentially crazy idea forms in his mind. Jack exits the unit again, grabbing a syringe and test tube. He returns, and now feeling very nervous, he gently sticks the ghost with the needle. The figure's face screws up in discomfort but he stays sleeping. Jack sighs in relief and draws up some…..blood, bright red blood. Jack's heart stutters as he shakes his head. It's not blood, no it can't be. This has to be a trick. He'll check with the microscope and it'll be fine.

Jack's never been as good as Maddie with the more biological aspects of studying ghost but he does now the basics. Jack carefully sets up the slide, trying to keep his hands from shaking with nerves. Taking a deep breath, he looks into the oculars. And his heart stops. On the slide are clearly visible red and white blood cells, something that is completely impossible if the sample came from a ghost. No ghost can copy the biology of a living person, not even to the cellular level. So the person in his ghost containment unit is a human…..and not just any human, one identical to his son.

Is...is that actually his Danny in the unit? It's the only thing that actually makes sense. But he had seen Phantom appear in the unit. And then the ghost had turned into his son. But...maybe that was some weird teleportation. Jack laughs humorlessly. Yeah that must be it. Phantom teleported out and teleported him son inside the unit. There was no way Danny actually was Phantom, right? His boy couldn't be a ghost, couldn't be dead.

Trying to do anything up avoid processing what just happened, Jack turns back to the microscope. His eyes brows rise. There are large globs of ectoplasm inside the cells. That's...that's not possible. Then Jack turns away from the microscope, eyes focusing on the ectosignature scanner. Hands still shaking, he grabs the scanner and pointed it at the boy. It beeps after a few seconds and Jack drops it in shock after seeing the read out: a clear ectosignature though suppressed, level 7 and identical to Phantom's.

His boy, his son, his Danny….he is Phantom. He is a ghost, his boy is dead. Tears start to prickle in his eyes at the thought. How did this even happen?! And how did he not notice?! His thoughts swirl with dread and sorrow. And then he looks up, seeing his boy still sleeping soundly. It had been an hour at least and he still hasn't woken up. Oh god what if he hurt him with that summoning? Was that even what that had been though? He and Maddie had summoned ghosts before and it never looked like that. That had been...powerful, very powerful, like nothing he'd even seen before. And the device wasn't supposed to summon ghosts either so what…

Jack is startled out of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs. He looks up and his jaw drops at the figure. It is the black haired, blue eyed form of Danny Fenton? His chaotically swirling mind stutters. What...how? He just stares

"Hey Dad I wanted to see what you were up to…." The figure trails off, as his eyes flicker in between the boy in the unit and the man in front of him. His jaw drops. "What the hell?!"

Jack finally shakes out of his stupor by the exclamation. He looks in between the two identical figures; he doesn't know which is his real son but he knows one of them is at least partially human. Fear and confusion spike in his chest. He pulls out an ectogun and points at the boy who just came down the stairs. "Who the hell are you?"

The black haired figure stammers. "I'm your son."

The inflection and facial expression are a perfect copy of his son. Doubt blooms in his mind. "Tell me something only the really Danny would know."

The figure stares at him wide eyed. "Uhhhh when I was four, I accidently broke Mom's vase that she got from Grandma and I cried before I thought she was going to be supper angry. But you talked to me and feed me fudge and said it was an accident and I didn't need to be scared about you being angry that I made a mistake. And you helped me tell Mom and we went thrift shopping to find her another vase."

The boy stumbles to a stop out of breath, eyeing the ectogun warily. Jack's heart unclinches after the boy's story. That's Danny. He just knows it. He drops the gun and steps forward, crushing the boy in a hug. Jack starts rambling in relief. "Oh Danny-boy. It's you." Danny relaxed a little at that. "I...I thought you were dead, a ghost. I summoned Phantom with the Fenton Ectosignature Copier and he turned into you and I checked and he was breathing and bleeding red and his heartbeating." Danny stiffened again. "And I thought he was you, that you were dead..or some kind of half ghost, half human hybrid."

At the end, Danny pushed away, stumbling backwards. "You...you thought I was Phantom. That's ridiculous." His laugh is humorless. "And half ghost? That's...that's impossible...nnno… one could be half...half ghost."

Jack's heart dropped as Danny spoke. He sounded very scared, too scared for Jack to have been wrong. Jack looks down, speaking very quietly compared to his normal voice. "You….are Phantom, aren't you?"

"What?! No." Danny looks terrified.

Jack puts up his arms placatingly. "You are. That explains you being skittish around our inventions, your grades, missing curfew, skipping class."

Danny steps back, face still fearful. "I...I don't know what you're talking about."

Jack's heart clinches at seeing his son so fearful of his reaction. He puts his arms out more, trying to make himself as non-threatening as possible. He speaks quietly. "Danno, you're my son. I love you, Phantom or not. Please, nothing will change that." He sighs. "You don't need to be afraid to tell me."

Danny still looks at him skeptically. "You...you promise, you won't be mad."

Jack frowns at that, as himself. "Yes Danny, I promise. I'm sorry I made you think you couldn't tell me."

Danny relaxes and nods. He swallows, still nervous. "It's true. I am.. I am Phantom. I'm half ghost, because of the portal. I..I wanted to tell you and Mom but..but I was scared."

He's starting to cry now, struggling for words. Jack puts his arms out. "Come here."

Danny looks at him skeptically but then walks forward. Jack envelops him in hug. The two stay like that for a few moments as Danny continues crying and Jack's eye water. A thousand questions fill the father's mind and soon they come pouring out his mouth. "How did this happen? Why didn't you tell your mother and I? We could've helped you. And do your friends know? Do they hunt ghosts with you?"

"Dad!" Danny exclaims trying to stop the ramble.

"Have any of our inventions hurt you before? I am so sorry Danny. We'll figure out how to keep you safe. And you're a ghost hunter, like your old man! How did that happen?"

"Dad!" Danny exclaims again, then pointing towards the containment unit. "We can talk about that later but have more pressing issues. Who is that?"

Jack turns back towards the boy in the unit. Somehow he'd completely forgotten about him. Jack frowns surveying him. Whoever he is, his heart is telling him that he's Jack's son. He looks to Danny again. Somehow, both boys are.

Danny's still waiting for a response as Jack's brow furrows. The father responds. "I don't know. I turned the Fenton Ectosignature Copier and it summoned Phantom." He pointed to the other boy. "And he showed up. But….you're Phantom so…."

Jack turns towards the boy in the unit again, a perfect copy of his son. Wait a copy. "Maybe...he's duplicate. Ghosts can make duplicates and Phantom definitely can." He turns back towards Danny, eyes widening. "You can duplicate yourself! That's amazing. I guess the machine forced you to make a duplicate. That's... less cool."

Danny holds out his hand, stopping him. "That...that's not it. If he was my duplicate, I'd be able to feel him." Jack tilts his head questioningly so Danny continues. "A duplicate is like having another limb. I can move it and feel with it, see with its eyes, hear with its ears. But I'm getting nothing from him. So THAT is not me."

Jack and Danny both turn back towards the unit. The boy is still asleep. Jack's mind still races with questions but nothing makes sense. It's not like Danny has a twin brother and people don't just suddenly appear out of nowhere. But he's right in front of them. This kid is real and he's half ghost like Danny is so where did he come from?!

"That bastard." Jack's head snaps to the side at Danny's exclamation. He raises his eyebrow as Danny continues. "That fruitloop cloned me, again!"

Wait, again? Before Jack can ask, Danny turns to him. "You said you were trying to summon Phantom, right? Our signature must be close enough you got him instead of me."

Danny looks pissed but Jack's mind is still sputtering with questions. "But it looked nothing like a normal summoning."

Danny ignores him and walks into the unit. "I'm going to wake him up. See if we can get some answers." He pauses over the figure. "He's naked? Seriously?" He kneels down. "He….might be new, just out of the cloning chamber. Would explain why I haven't meet him yet."

Danny puts his arm on the other boy's shoulder, shaking him. "Hey, wake up." The boy doesn't budge. "Come on!"

Then Danny's face goes blank, his eyes far away. It lasts for a few seconds and then he rips his hands away like he was burned. He then looks up at his father. His eyes are full of shock and sorrow, his voice haunted. "You...you did this."

Jack steps back. "What?"

Danny's eyes are watering now. "You...you did this." He pointed accusingly at the machine Jack had put his ectoplasm into, spitting out the words. "That machine, it made him. I saw it, in his mind. He's….he's less than an hour old." The hurt on Danny's face magnifies, as he glares at his father. "You created him! You….you just clone me, here in the lab! How could you do that?"

The clone on the floor makes a whimpering noise and Danny springs up backing away. He marches out the door, still glaring at his father. Jack's mouth opens and shuts. His mind completely unable to process.

Jack's speechlessness just angers Danny more. The boy's eyes start glowing green and Jack steps back, feeling slightly afraid.

Danny's words come out cold and biting. "You don't get it. This already happened once and it was the most disturbing and violating thing that ever happened to me." He points back at the other boy, whose face wrinkled up in discomfort as he whimpers again. "That is not just my DNA, my ectoplasm." Danny laughs humorlessly. "Did you know that ghosts that have really similar cores can share thoughts and emotions, even memories? I saw it when I touched him. That's why he's asleep, his mind's trying to deal with all those memories, my memories." The clone squirms, garbled sounds emerging from his throat. Danny's nose wrinkles. "There's probably a fifty percent chance when he wakes up, he'll think he's me."

The clone makes more garbled noises and Danny turns towards him and though his face softens somewhat, his face is still filled with anger. His head snaps back to his father. "When he wakes up, you can explain it to him."

Turning his back, Danny marches up the stairs. Jack calls after him. "Danny! Wait! I'm Sorry!" but Danny ignores him.

Jack stares off, towards where Danny left.

"Oh my God!" Jack flinches when he hears a voice behind him, Danny's voice. "Why I am in the lab?! And why am I naked?!"

Jack turns around, finding the perfect image of Danny Fenton sitting up and staring at the blanket in his lap

"Dad! What….how...how did I get here? What's going on?" The ice blue eyes stare at him.

Jack's mind stutters. What has he done?


	2. Shatter- Part 2

For Ectober Week, Day 1. This is a continuation of "It was an accident, I swear" my one shot about Jack accidentally cloning Danny. The first part is in my Tumblr prompts collection, chapter 3.

The icy blue eyes continue to stare at Jack, whose mind is running in circles. Jack who had just found out his son was half ghost, was Phantom. Jack who had just accidentally cloned his son less than an hour ago. Danny had marched up the stairs, furious at his father at the revelation and leaving Jack to clean up the mess.

Jack finally meets the eyes of the figure in front of him. They are light blue, the same color as Jack's own. The boy tilted his head at the man on the other side of the glass and Jack curses himself for his previous thought. The figure in front of him isn't a mess. He's a person. A child, Jack's child. Not his Danny but still Jack Fenton's son.

The boy coughs, startling the father out of his thoughts. He bits his lip, anxiously. "Dad, why am I in the ghost containment unit?"

Jack's heart fell at the fear in the boy's voice but his tongue remains tied. At the lack of response, the boy's eyes widened in fear. "I...I swear I can explain. It's not what it looks like. I'm not possessed or any thing. It's me Dad, Danny."

At the last part, Jack looks down, heart falling. Danny was right. How...how is he going to explain this, without crushing the kid or making him more afraid? He looks up again, opening and closing his mouth, trying to figure out what to say.

"Please Dad! You have to believe me."

Jack gives the boy the best smile he can muster, though it's tainted with sadness. " It's okay, kiddo. I know about you being half ghost and about Phantom."

The kid tries to scramble up, flickering invisible in the process but falls on his behind. He awkwardly shuffles back until he hits the wall. Jack just gasps at the display; he hasn't seen either this boy or Danny use ghost powers in human form yet. Meanwhile the kid puts his hands in front of him. "I promise it's still me. I'm not dead or an imposter or something. I'm your son."

Jack's heart finally shatters. He tries to calm the boy, putting his hands in front of him (and at the same time getting a wicked case of deja vu). "You're right. You are my son and I would never hurt you. You don't need to be afraid."

"Then why am I in the ghost containment unit?! And where are my clothes?!" Now panic enters the boy's voice.

Stepping closer and binding down to be near the kid's eye level, Jack tries to calm him. "Both of those were an accident, and my fault." He cringes at the last part, because the only reason this kid exists and is in this situation is because of his actions.

"What...what did you do?" The words are nervous and surprisingly, not the least bit accusative.

Jack bites his lip, now nervous himself. How to explain this without permanently scarring this kid. There's so much he doesn't know. Jack knows that the clone thinks he is Danny. But how deep does that go? Will he believe the truth, and if he does will it shatter him? He really wishes Maddie was here. She would know how to approach this better than he does. But Jack's here now and his new son needs his father.

Trying to buy himself a little time, Jack nervously approaches the door. "Can I come in and talk to you?"

The boy swallows looking at him nervously. "Can I come out instead?"

Jack raises his eyebrow and then nods after the revelation that he does not want to feel trapped. "Let me help you up."

He opens the door while the boy continues looking at him skeptically. Jack walks over and bends over. He scops the kid up in his arms, carrying him bridal style with the blanket wrapped completely around his waist. The boy yelps in protest. "You don't have to carry me!"

Jack looks down again, speaking softly again. "Please just let me do this son." A bit of humor entered his voice. "Unless you want to risk losing the blanket walking up the stairs."

The kid crosses his arms, frowning. "Fine." The very teenager-like gesture actually makes Jack chuckle in relief.

Jack heads up the stairs carefully, surprised at how light the boy in his arms is. Is it because he's half ghost? He makes sure the kid doesn't bang his head on the door as they enter the kitchen. Jack absentmindedly notes that as a whole he's been surprisingly careful considering his boisterous, somewhat clumsy nature. Once in the living room, he puts the boy down on the couch.

Jack sits down on the arm chair across from his son, who had been studying him with intelligent, cautious eyes the whole time. The father wrings his hands together. While he's trying to decide where to start, the boy speaks. "Are you going to tell me what happened now?"

Jack exhales slowly. "I will. But first you need to know that I'm sorry that my actions put you in this situation. But I am not sorry you're here. No matter what you're my son and I love you. I want what's best for you and am going to help you through this."

As Jack pauses, the boy sits up somewhat. He focuses on the father with serious eye. "Dad. Stop. You're treating me like I'm made of glass. Like I'll shatter if you push too hard. Whatever happened just tell me. I can handle it."

Jack sighs again. He really hopes his son was right. Gathering his courage, he finally speaks "You're...not who you think you are."

The boy raises his eyebrows. "Okay? What does that mean?"

Jack tries again. "You think you're name is Danny Fenton, right? But you're not Danny Fenton."

"What! Then who am I?" His voice raises slightly, though skeptical.

"I...don't know yet." He stutters.

The boy crosses his arms again. "You don't know? What then? Do you think I'm some kind of imposter? That I'm just pretending to be your son."

"No, you are my son." Jack answers sincerely.

"Dad, if this is your way of saying I'm adopted, you're doing a horrible job." The annoyance in his voice increases.

"You think you're adopted?" Jack tilts his head.

"I mean, sometimes." He shrugs. "I'm clearly not as smart as you and Mom like Jazz is."

"That, that's ridiculous. You're super, smart, just not book smart like your sister. And you look like me. Of course we're related."

"Then why are you saying I'm not Danny?" The boy spreads his arms, exacerbated.

Jack shakes his head. He's doing a horrible job at this. He's just going to come out and say it. "You're a clone."

"What!" The boy grits his teeth.

"You're a clone of Danny Fenton." He swallows, forcing himself to say the word. "I ...accidently made you, about an hour ago."

"You accidently made me? But….that doesn't make any sense." The boy grabs his hair with his hands. "I remember growing up here. You taught me constellations when I was four and when I broke Mom's vase, we went shopping to replace it. And...and my first day of school, I had a spiderman backpack and that's when I meet Tucker. And our fishing trip last year. I remember all that!"

Jack wrings his hands, his heart breaking over the distressed display. "Danny said that might happen, that ghosts with similar cores can share memories and you might think you were him."

"So what, my memories are just copies of someone else's?!" The kid's hands ball into fists. "Dad, if this is a joke, this is cruel. Now tell me what actually happened!"

"I swear, that's the truth." Jack's practically pleading now. "I know you can't tell that those memories aren't yours. And that's okay. No one's mad about that. And I'm sorry that you're having to go through this because of something I did. But please, you have to believe 're not Danny."

The speech seems to calm the boy somewhat, though his words are still biting. "Fine. If I'm not Danny Fenton, then what's my name?"

Jack's heart freezes at the question. "You...you don't have one yet."

At that the boy springs up, his eyes light up green. "No. First you're telling me that my memories are fake and now I apparently don't even have a name. I'm going up to my room now. You can come get me when you want to tell me the truth."

Jack stands too, holding out his hands to stop him. "Son, wait. We'll figure this out."

The still glowing green eyes meet Jack's and the father finally notices the tears forming in them. He can practically see the cracks forming. This reaction, it's not just anger. It's fear, this boy is terrified that his father is right. Jack walks forwards, arms enveloping the boy who is gently shaking with anger and fear. The boy listlessly returns the hug, his head turned towards the side. Jack gently rubs his back. "It'll be okay. I promise."

Just then the sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs echo through the room. "I'm really sorry for running out on you earlier."

At the voice, the boy in Jack's arms pulls away, like he's been struck. The father's head wips towards the figure on the stairs, a red-eyed, blotchy faced Danny Fenton. Danny's eyes fix on the other boy. He holds out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, one of Danny's favorites Jack notices. His voice tinges with nervousness but still rings with compassion. "I figured you would need some clothes."

A tear finally breaks free of now blue eyes of the boy in front of Jack. And Jack can practically hear the boy's heart shatter.

"No." The whispered, dread filled word leaves the boys mouth. Then he disappears.


	3. Stalker- Part 3

_I'm a clone..I'm a clone. Oh my God, I'm just a copy. I'm not even real._

The cursed words bombard the mind of the as of now unnamed clone. After the real Danny Fenton had bopped down the stairs, he'd instantly known his da...Jack was right about him, about everything. He'd turned invisible and fled transforming before he was even out of the house. Then he'd flown like the devil himself was chasing him, paying little attention to where he was going. With tears streaming down his face, the ghost can barely see where he was going anyway. That isn't like him at all. Danny Fenton was never one to cry. Then again, he isn't Danny Fenton.

The ghost comes to stop...somewhere. Wherever it was, it is green and smells earthy. He wipes his eyes and laughs when he realizes where he is. It's the park in the center of Amity Park. He's in a secluded area that he and Tucker had loved when they were little. They would make paper boats to sail on the stream and play awesome games of hide and seek.

His smile then turned down into a frown. No, he hadn't done that. Danny had. He hadn't even been alive for two hours yet. That's what his Dad, no Danny's Dad had said. That he'd accidentally cloned his son in the lab downstairs. How the heck do you accidently create a person? Then again, that was just like Jack Fenton, having no idea what his inventions were actually capable of and then achieving something he never thought possible.

That's what had happened with the portal, not once but twice. It had worked, creating two half ghosts in the process. Images of putting on the original white and black suit and stepping into the then inactivated portal entered his mind. He had just wanted to impress his friends. He growled at the memory. No he hadn't. Danny had done that. Danny had decided to walk into the portal. That wasn't him. And it had never been him.

The unnamed clone flew towards the stream, trying to avoid the memories that seemed to be stalking him. The sound of the water flowing over the rocks and the crickets in the wood were nice. He came to a large tree with a curved trunk. It slopped over the stream, forming a nice place to sit. Tucker and him had spent many afternoons trying to see who could climb the highest up that trunk. He shook his head. No they hadn't.

He flew farther and came to a pile of garbage. Seriously! People have been leaving junk here! Kids come here to play you jerks! Exhaling to calm those thoughts, he frowned when he saw a broken mirror in the pile. The ghost carefully picks up the largest piece and wipes it free of dirt. He raises his eyebrow at the image in the mirror. It's himself, in ghost form. White hair, green eyes, black and white ghost hunting suit. It's the face he's always known since seeing it for the first time after the accident. Except it isn't because he's not that person, he's not Danny Fenton or Danny Phantom. The face is perfectly identical but it's not the same. The ghost makes a few funny faces in the mirror, watching his reflection copy him. As he sticks out his tongue realizes with a start that this is actually the first time he's even seen his own face, excepted reflected on someone else. Or maybe he's the reflection, the copy.

The ghost puts down the mirror. Is….this going to be his life if he stays here? Nothing but a copy, a reflection of someone else. Will he always be stalked by the real Danny's memories? He shakes his head. He doesn't want that. If he can't be Danny Fenton (and he can't, not after knowing the truth) then he wants to be someone else. Maybe he should go find Danielle. The two of them belong together, both being clones of Danny. Yeah he'll do that, find her and make a life for himself.

Just then the ghost hears ruffling behind him and he whips around. "Who's there?!"

Just silence. The wind blows by and he shivers. Did the temperature just drop? Cold fills his lungs like his ghost sense but doesn't exit his mouth. His eyes widen and fist lit with ectoenergy. "Could you just leave me alone? I don't feel like fighting anyone right now."

No response comes as the wind blows passed the ghost again. He can feel ghostly eyes on him, his stalker silent and still but not leaving. With a sigh, he flew back towards the tree with the curved trunk. He takes a seat, sensing that whoever is following him is still there. But he ignores the presence; they're not causing trouble so why bother?

He sits watching the trees move in the breeze for several moments, still debating whether he should leave. He doesn't know where Dani is and really doesn't want to live on the streets. And how would his da..no, Jack, not his Father, feel? Except Jack had insisted that he was Jack's son. The man had said that multiple times but did he mean it, or just feel obligated?

And what about Danny himself? There's no way he would want to live in the same house as someone who was essentially a copy of him. He'd even apparently told Jack what happened and then ran off, not wanting to see his clone until things started escalating downstairs. No, Danny probably wanted nothing to do with him. A tear ran down his face at the thought.

Just then the ghost senses his ghostly stalker move closer. He tenses but tilts his head. Whoever they are, they aren't attacking him or setting off his ghost sense. And the signature feels familiar. He straightens and fixes his eyes on where he knew the invisible ghost was. "Could you let me see you? I promise I won't shoot you or anything."

The ghost hears a sigh and then the air not five feet in front of him shimmers. A figure slowly shifts into view. It's….himself? No it's Danny.

The ghost tries not to look shocked while studying the other halfa. The other boy wrings his hands nervously. The clone finally manages to speak. "How did you find me?"

"I….uhhh...had a feeling." The other boy read between the lines; this is where Danny himself would have gone if he was upset.

The clone frowns. "Did Jack send you?"

Danny nervously rubs the back of his neck. "No. I volunteered to come find you and see if you wanted to come home."

"Really, you didn't come because Jack was worried?" The other boy asked skeptically.

"I mean, Dad is worried. He's really sorry he explained stuff badly and made you freak out. But I'm worried too." Danny bits his lip.

"Really, you were worried?"

"Yes! I was, I am." Danny spread him arm, voice sincere.

"Then why the heck did you leave me?!" The other boy points at Danny, accusingly.

"What?" Danny pales, brow furrowing in confusion.

"Down in the lab. Before I woke up, you told Dad what was going on and just left. If you had been there when I woke up, I would have known what was going on right off the bat." The boy's voice starts rising in anger. "But no you left Dad who didn't really understand what happened and who can barely talk about emotional stuff to save his life, to give me the You're a clone talk!" The clone feels a tear drip down his cheek again but wipes it away angrily.

Danny frowns, voice quiet. "I'm sorry."

The clone turns away from the other halfa. "I don't want to hear it."

Danny flies in front of his clone again. "I mean it. I am sorry. That was crappy of me. I should have been there. But I was pissed off at Dad and didn't want you to get caught in the middle."

The clones eyes finally meet the other boy's identical green ones and his expression softens somewhat. " You're right, that was a crappy thing to do. And I'm still mad at you."

The clone then flies up, taking a seat in a tree. He turns away from his original, really not wanting to talk to the other boy.

But Danny flew in front of him again, persistent as ever. "Will just talk to me, please?

The other boy crosses his arms, pouting. "No"

Danny rolls his eyes. "Come on. I totally get why you're upset but I'm just trying to help."

Something in the statement ignites anger in the other boy. "I don't want or need your help!" He glares at the other halfa. "And another thing! No, you don't understand."

Responding to the anger with annoyance of his own, Danny growls. "Seriously? You're going to use the 'you don't understand' on me?"

"Oh, like you've ever woken up naked in the lab, in front of your father, none the less!" The words drip with sarcasm. "And then gotten told you were born about, what 2 hours ago? Oh and apparently your life is a lie and you're a copy of another person!"

"No you're not a copy!" Danny yells the words, throwing his hands up.

"Hello!" The clone's voice rang out in disbelief tingled with anger. " I look like you, sound like you, think like you. I have your memories! I'm a freaking copy!"

The other halfa flew closer to the other boy. "You are not a copy." His face turned serious. "Do you want to be me?"

The clone's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Do you want to be Danny Fenton?" He spreads his arms. "If you want to steal my life, go back home and be me, then take me out right now." The clone just shakes his head in disbelief. "I won't fight you. Just go ahead, do it."

"What! No! I don't want to steal you life."

"Really, you're not even tempted." Danny raises an eyebrow, questioningly. "Because I have a pretty good thing going. Friends and family who love me. I'm a hero. Why wouldn't you want to take that?"

"Because….because it's wrong! I couldn't live with myself if I did that." The other boy sputters, shaking his head.

"But why?" Danny stares down the other boy, completely serious.

"Because that would be a lie. I'm not you…." The clone trails off at then end. His eyes widen as he realizes what Danny is getting at. "You...you just used reverse psychology on me." His voice displayed an odd mix of exacerbation and respect.

Danny just grins. "I did learn from the best." His smile turns down slightly. "You do get what I'm saying though? You aren't me."

The other halfa puts his head in his hands. He understood what Danny was saying, too well really. He'd thought similar things himself. But if he wasn't Danny Fenton…..He sighs and then looks at Danny. "Then who am I?"

"I don't know." The words rang out with a mixture of complex emotions, enough that the clone could not really tell what all he was trying to convey. He says nothing in response instead curling in on himself where he was still sitting in the tree. His eyes flicker to his original who floats in front of him with a thoughtful expression. Of course Danny would not know. The clone himself doesn't. Despite the earlier conversation, he's still where he started: with no name, no past, and no clue what to do now.

Another tear falls down the clone's face and Danny averts his eyes when he sees it. Trying to block out the other's face, the clone puts his head down on his knees in front of him. The air in front of him shifts indicating Danny moved. But the other can still tell that Danny's still there, silenting watching him, stalking him again. Why wouldn't Danny just go away? Either drag him back to Fentonworks or leave him alone! The clone knows that Danny's trying to help but he's not! He can say he and Jack care all he wants. He can say that he's sorry for the way he acted earlier. He can even try to convince the clone he's not just a copy. But it doesn't help! They're only words and don't change what he is! And there's no way they really love him.

Just then the clone felt the branch he was on sway as someone sits down. Tentatively, slowing the person beside him puts their arm around the clone. As the arm brushes his back, he instantly knows it's Danny. A swirl of complex emotions trickle through the connection: sadness, anxiousness, distress. In response, a sob burst from the clone's throat. The distress spikes at that before Danny can push it down. Then other emotions come: sympathy, compassion, and….something else. A warm, safe feeling and a promise to always be there.

In response, the clone quickly unfolds his legs and turns his torso towards the other boy. Both of his arms go around Danny's back until he's clinging to Danny like his life depends on it. Danny returns the hug, squeezing the boy back. The embrace is awkward with both of them sitting on the branch, but since both can float, they don't worry about falling.

The clone continues crying and Danny soon cries with him. The currently unnamed boy notices he's also projecting emotions to the other halfa. The sadness, anxiety, fear, and stress he feels influence and magnify Danny's reaction, just like Danny's emotions are influencing him. He mentally flinches with guilt at forcing those emotions on the other boy. Danny then sends a wave of understanding and acceptance of the feeling he was getting from his clone and of the other boy as a person. The clone responds with gratitude.

The hug lasts for a minute at least and while the emotional exchange is tiring, it is also cathartic. The clone knows, both from the emotional exchange and from knowing how Danny thinks, that Danny wasn't as okay with all of this as he tried to seem. Between dealing with the violating feelings of being cloned(and by his father no less) and his Dad finding out about him being Phantom, he tried to put on a brave face and be strong. And he had chosen to go find his clone, chosen to stay despite getting yelled at, chosen to comfort and try to understand him.

The clone realized with a start the feeling he had sensed earlier- the warmth and promise- was love. And not the fluffy, emotional love either. But the love that chooses to always be there with no strings attached and despite his own pain and discomfort. It feels like one of Jazz's hugs after a nightmare, saying that it's not okay now but it will be and I'll be here with you to the whole time. It's a promise that though neither of them know who exactly the clone is now, Danny believes he can grow past just being a reflection of Danny Fenton and will be there as he does. Still hugging Danny, the clone smiles through his tears. How had he ever thought that Danny didn't care about him, wanted nothing to do with him? He tries to project just a fraction of the love he's getting from Danny back. And he actually feels Danny smile in response.

The pair finally pull apart. Both wipe their faces and Danny gives a small laugh. "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yeah. I needed that. Thanks."

Danny pats him on the shoulder. "Good. How do you feel about going home now?"

The clone nods. "Yeah, let's go home."


	4. Laboratory- Part 4

After a day of running errands, Maddie Fenton came down the steps into the Fentonworks laboratory to find her husband destroying one of their inventions, the Fenton Ghost Ectosignature Copier, with the Fenton anti-creep stick.

Her brows drew together her husband's antics. Figuring he must be frustrated with the invention not working, she asked with a hint of humor. "Was it that bad, honey?"

The man shook his head but replied flatly. "No it worked."

Maddie tilted her head questioningly. "Then why are you destroying it?"

Jack stared at her but then answered nonchalantly. "We have another son now."

Maddie's mouth dropped at the statement which seemingly came out of nowhere. "What?"

"I...accidentally cloned Danny. That's what the machine did. I put Phantom's ectoplasms in and it popped out a clone of Danny." He put his hand through his thinning hair, rumbling. "Oh and apparently, Danny is Phantom. He's not dead or anything. He breathes, has a pulse, and red human blood. I checked. Our son is half ghost. Actually both of them are. Since we have twin sons now."

Maddied gapped. "Jack, that's ridiculous. Are you sure you didn't hit your head? Or maybe you took a nap and dreamed it?"

"No, Danny's definitely a ghost." Jack stated matter of factly.

The words ignited annoyance in Maddie. "Jack! We've talked about this. Just because one of the kids is acting strange doesn't mean they're a ghost!"

"That's the truth though! I saw! After the clone ran off, Danny turned into Phantom and went to find him! And I saw the clone do the same thing! Both of them are somehow both humans and ghosts!"

"Jack, that's not possible. A human can't have ghost powers. I'm sure you just had a nightmare."

The man shook his head. "I saw it though. I saw both of them transform." He then paled. "I don't even know where the other boy went. He looked so crushed, Mads. What if he doesn't come back?" He continued wringing his hands. "I hadn't even thought of a name for him yet and now he's out there, who knows where all alone."

Maddie furrowed his brow, very concerned about her husband's behavior. If that was a dream, it must have been a very vivid one. Because there was no way any of that happened. Humans could not be ghosts, and you couldn't just clone a person in an afternoon. Maddie opened her mouth to try and argue reason with the man but snapped her mouth shut as two figures phased through the ceiling of the lab one after the other. White hair, green eyes, black jumpsuit. Maddie narrowed her eyes; she would know the ghost anywhere - Phantom. Her eyes flickered to the other ghost. It was...also Phantom?

As Maddie reached to pull the ectogun in alarm at the intruders, the Phantom who phased through first addressed Jack with a smile. "See? I told you I would find him, Dad."

Wait...Dad? Maddie's hand froze over the gun, without touching it. Her eyes fixed on the ghost who was closer to her. He was a color inverted copy of her Danny. And hadn't Jack said….

The ghost finally noticed her. "You said Mom wouldn't be back for 2 more hours!"

Maddie's thoughts tumbled into each other. Mom? Phantom called her Mom? (He actually did that accidently a lot). And Jack had said...he was Danny. Her mouth feel open as she instantly recognized the truth. Jack was telling the truth? And that meant that the other ghost…. Her eyes fell on the other Phantom who was looking between the adults nervously.

Mercifully, Jack broke the silence. "I told your Mom about everything, Danno."

Maddie looked to the first Phantom again. "Danny?" She whispered.

He smiled at her sheepishly. "Yeah it's me." He then looked back at his...clone (?). "I think we're okay. You should come say Hi."

The clone bit his lip nervously but did as Danny suggested. He floated down to her eye level as Maddie's eyes widened. "Ummmm hi."

Danny gave him a sided-eyed glance but chuckled. "I didn't think you do exactly what I said."

The other boy shrugged. "What else was I supposed to say?"

Danny floated down beside his clone. He quirked his eyebrow. "Come on. You couldn't have come up with something more clever?"

The other smirked and elbowed him good naturedly. "As if you could do better."

Danny opened his mouth in mock annoyance. "I totally could and you know it."

Maddie just stared at the exchange, eyes flickering between the two identical faces. What...the heck was happening? Behind her Jack coughed, drawing the pairs focus away from their conversation. Two pairs of neon green eyes fixed on her. The boy on her left- she was pretty sure he was Danny- rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess we have a lot to talk about, all four of us."

"And Jazz." The clone added.

Danny's eyes widened but then he nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to transform back." He turned to the other boy. "Do you want to, too?"

The clone nodded. A white ring of light formed around Danny's waist first. Splitting, the lights passed over his body, changing his clothing in the process. Soon Maddie found herself staring at the blue eyes and black hair of her familiar son. This...this was real. Her Danny was a ghost. He really was Phantom.

Another flash of light startled the woman out of her thoughts. She turned towards the other ghost to find the rings as Danny's traveling over his body and changing him. She fixed her eyes on his face, as green eyes turned blue, and white hair black. He looked exactly like Danny.

Then the woman's eyes trailed down for a second and widened as the boy looked down at himself. He paled as his own eyes widened. Maddie looked away instinctively, covering her eyes as someone made a distressed noise; either Danny or the other boy, she couldn't tell which.

"Oh my God! I forgot I didn't have any clothes on!" The clone, Maddie assumed, shrieked.

"Why are you naked?" Maddie responded, echoing his distress.

"I was only born like 2 hours ago! And humans are usually born naked!"

Maddie paled at the statement; there was a lot to unpack there. Before she could think about it, she heard a sigh. "You can look now. I ...uhh… turned invisible."

Slowly parting her fingers, Maddie peered through to finding only one black haired teenager in front of her. The mother cautiously turned her head, searching for any sign of the other boy, but found nothing. Her head swiveled back to Danny who had also been covering his eyes. He lowered his hand and then wide eyes focused on something she couldn't see to his left. His face turned red as he slapped his hand over his eyes again. "I can still see you!"

"What! But I'm invisible!" The voice sounded like Danny's though it wasn't him. Brows furrowed in confusion, Maddie looked for the speaker.

A groan came from her left. "You're human invisible, not ghost invisible. So I can still see you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" The invisible speaker uttered while Maddie mentally freaked out. (He's invisible, actually invisible. There's an invisible clone of Danny in there lab. Oh and Danny can turn invisible too.)

Danny continued, not noticing his mother's increasing panic. "There's levels of invisibility. You're at like the first level so ordinary humans can't see you." The boy's voice rang with nervousness as he continued. "But I'm …ummm… not exactly a normal human."

"Oh" was all the clone managed to mutter.

Danny then tilted his head questioningly. "I figured you would know that considering…."

He trailed off and the other boy replied, voice tinged with annoyance. "I don't know everything you do."

Danny opened his mouth to reply but Jack, who had also been silent the whole time, interjected. "Son." His eyes fell on the empty space the invisible boy occupied. "You should go get dressed so your mother and I can see you and we can talk."

Danny snapped his mouth shut and nodded. "The clothes I brought down for you are on the coffee table."

A beat of silence and then a nervous chuckle sounded. "Oh, you can't see me nodding. I'm heading upstairs then…..this is so awkward."

The quiet sound of feet padding up the stairs followed and then the door to the kitchen quietly closed.

"Is he gone?" Danny asked.

Maddie gaped, her mind still spinning in shock and confusion at the last few minutes. Behind her, Jack answered. "I think so."

Danny moved his hand from his eyes, opening them. His eyes flickered between his mom and dad. The three remained silent for several moments until Maddie's mind caught up, confusion turning to frustration. "What the hell was that?"

Danny paled at the anger in her tone. "Ummm.. what...what part?"

"All of it!" She spread her arms. "You...you just phased through the ceiling. You were floating! And then you turned back into yourself, like it was nothing!"

"Mom, I'm…" He was cut off by her continued rant.

"And who the hell was that other ghost? Some kind of look-alike, a shapeshifter?"

Danny remained silent at her outburst, face a mixture of guilt and fear. Then Jack walked forward, gently placing his hand on her arm. "Madds, I already told you want happened remember?" He spoke slowly, as if she was a small child. "Danny-boy is half ghost. He is Phantom but he's still our Danny."

Maddie gritted her teeth, still annoyed and confused. "And who's the other boy?"

"He's a clone… of Danny." Jack replied.

"A clone? What...How?"

"My invention...accidentally made him." At seeing Maddie's eyes widen and her face turn red, Jack put his hands in front of him. "It was an accident, I swear."

"Accident! How do you accidentally create a person?!"

"Well ...Danny was technically an accident. So it's not that hard, apparently."

"At least Danny was conceived the normal way, Jack! It's supposed to take two parents to make a child!"

"Can we stop talking about this?!" Maddie turned to Danny whose face was bright red, mortified. She'd forgotten he was ever here, while arguing with Jack.

Jack himself also blushed, then voicing Maddie's thoughts almost exactly. "Heh, we forgot you were here son."

Danny sighed, still blushing. "Clearly."

At seeing Danny's embarrassment and nervousness, much of Maddie's anger dissipated. She plopped down on a nearby lab stool, shoulders falling. "I'm sorry, honey. This is just a lot to take in."

The teenager ran his hand through his hair. " Yeah, I never thought you and Dad would find out like this."

The mother sighed. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Ummm a lot of reasons. I was scared of how you'd react, that you wouldn't believe me. And I … uhh didn't want you guys to feel guilty about the accident or what you've said about Phantom." He put his hands through his hair. "Plus I was afraid you knowing would put you in danger. I have a lot of enemies as Phantom."

Maddie sighed again, having no idea what to say. That was… a lot of reasons. And what did that say about her and Jack as parents, as scientist? Biting her lip, she finally replied. "I'm sorry Danny. About everything."

The boy shrugged. "It's alright. I'm the one who lied to you."

"No it's not alright." She replied, voice earnest. "We...I… made you feel you couldn't tell us. And that's not right. We're your parents! You're supposed to be able to trust and rely on us!"

He looked down, remaining silent. Jack then moved forward, standing between Maddie and Danny. He put one hand on Danny's shoulder and one on Maddie's. "Your mom's right, son. We messed up but I promise we'll do everything we can fix this. Just promise to be honest with us now, okay?"

Danny looked up at his father, eyes shining with a complicated mix of emotions. He nodded. At the same time, Maddie gave her husband a grateful look. She was really thankful actually that he had already found out about and had some time to process all this. And now stood by her side, her rock. Without him, she would definitely be an emotional wreck. She still had many questions, like how did Danny become half ghost(whatever that means) is the first place.

The mother was distracted from her next question by a startled yelp from upstairs. In the blink of an eye, she was on her feet.

"Sorry Jazz! I didn't mean to scare you." A voice identical to Danny's yelled from upstairs.

Maddie continued, moving towards the stairs, until Danny gently put his hand on her arm. "They're fine. He probably did something dumb, like forget to turn his clothes invisible when he picked them up. And that scared Jazz."

Maddie's head turned towards the stairs, her mind returning to the boy upstairs. "I guess we need to talk about what we're going to do about…" She motioned vaguely upstairs.

Danny's gaze followed her motion. "You mean my cl…brother." Brother? Maddie quirked her eyebrows, tilting her head. Danny continued. " I mean he is my brother, right? Dad already calls him son. And even if he didn't think of you and Dad as his parents, I would still think of him as my brother."

Maddie gaped at how matter of fact Danny's statement was. "He think of me as his mom?"

"Yeah, of course." Danny shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world. But as Maddie's expression remained one of shock confusion, his eyes widened in realization. "Oh. I should probably tell you…"

The sound of the lab door opening cut Danny off as Jazz started walking down the stairs. "Danny just told me I should come talk to you guys…" Her words trailed off as she noticed Danny. She stopped walking as her eyes widened and she swallowed. " I mean Danny texted me. Not that I just talked to him in the living room. Nope, he was definitely down here, with you guys."

Maddie turned to her daughter, raising her own eyebrow. Jazz obviously talked to the clone upstairs…but he was invisible? If she thought he was Danny, why wasn't she more surprised to find Danny here instead? And why did she sound like she was trying to cover something up? Wait…

Danny sighed. "Jazz, Mom and Dad know about me being Phantom."

Jazz's eyes widened. "That's...uhh"

"Dad found out. And then I showed both of them."

"Oh" Jazz's eyes flickered between her brother and her parents, until they fell on the busted up machine behind Jack. "Does Dad finding out have anything to do with why you have an invisible and apparently naked duplicate running around upstairs?"

"What?" Danny's jaw dropped.

Jazz continued down the stairs, until she was standing in front of her brother. "Your duplicate said he was naked because of something Dad did." Danny continued gapping. "Unless you're the duplicate and your original's upstairs. You're getting better at making sure no one can tell which is which." She then pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Though I have no idea how Dad could have got you in this situation."

At the end, Danny finally cracked, starting to chuckle. "Ummm Jazz that's not.."

Then the door to the lab slammed open again and a black haired boy identical to Danny came down the stairs. "That's so much better. Danny, I went a got a pair of shoes from your room since I figured walking in the lab barefoot was a bad idea. I hope you don't mind." The boy stopped when he noticed everyone staring at him.

With barely a thought, Danny nodded. "No problem. I don't mind."

Now it was Jazz's turn to gap. She quickly looked between the two and then marched up to the boy who had just come down the stairs. "Who are you?" To Maddie's surprise, the words came out calmly and kindly without any accusation.

The clone bit his lip. "I...umm."

Then Danny came up beside Jazz. "He's...like Ellie."

Who's Ellie? The mother thought as she observed the exchange curiously. She focused back as Jazz responded, lips pursed in anger. "Does that mean that fruitloop started his experiments again?!" She walked forward and put her hand gently on the boy's arm. "Don't worry. We'll protect you. You don't have to go back to that creep."

The clone looked at Jazz curiously as Danny replied. "That's not an issue, Jazz. Vl… Plasmius doesn't even know he exists."

"What?" The redheads eyebrows drew together as she removed her hand.

The clone bit his lip. "Plasmius didn't...uhhh make me." His eyes focused on Jack. "Your Dad did."

Jazz's head whipped back to her father. "Dad!" She exclaimed in horror.

But before she could continue, Danny put his hand on her arm, placatingly. "I already ripped into him, Jazz. You don't have to. Plus it was an accident and Dad already destroyed the invention he used."

Jack looked down, guilty and then walked forward, joining the group of teenagers. "I am sorry, Danny. Are you still mad at me?"

The boy shrugged half heartedly. "I am a little. But.." Then he took his clone brother's hand comforting, as the other had been studying Jack cautiously. "My brother wouldn't be here without what you did." Danny then turned to face the other boy, squeezing his hand with a smile. "And this is better. I'd rather you be born into this family that loves you than to a creep who would only want to use you."

The clone smiled broadly at the statement as Jazz grabbed his other hand. "Danny has a point." She squeezed it. After Danny let go, Jazz moved to the clone's front and hugged him. "Welcome to the family, little brother."

Danny soon joined the hug from the side while Jack came from behind, squeezing the three kids with his eyes watering. "I love much, kiddo."

Maddie marveled at the group hug for a moment and then felt ashamed. She felt out of the loop, the last one the learn about Danny being Phantom and the only one struggling to wrap her head around the idea of having a clone for a child. Jack had immediately embraced the clone as his son, calling him that as soon as he mentioned the boy to Maddie. Danny, the one who should be understandably feel angry and violated, called the other boy his brother multiple times, also embracing him. And Jazz, her sweet understanding Jazz, adapted so quickly, instantly promising to protect her new brother.

But Maddie was the only one struggling to act. The clone looked up, his now watering eyes falling disappointedly on his mother. His mother. Maddie sighed, that's what Jack had called her. And Danny had said that the other boy did think of her as his mom. She stepped forward. Well her new son was right, Maddie Fenton was his mom.

Maddie joined the hug from the side opposite Danny. She gently kissed the boy on the cheek. "Welcome home, sweetie."

"Thanks mom." He whispered.

After a while, the group hug broke apart, though by then all of the faces were wet.

Jazz wiped her eyes, smiling. Then she gasped. "I can't believe I haven't asked what your name is yet?"

At the statement, the clone's smiled quickly flipped into a frown. "I don't have one."

"What!" Jazz's mouth fell as she stared at her parents. "Do you have any kind of idea what type of damage this could do to his psychological development? Having a name is vital to developing one's sense of self!"

Maddie cringed at the tone. Hadn't Jack mentioned that when she came in? But she had not thought about it since. She frowned, disappointed at herself. Addressing her new son, she tried to give him a comforting smile. "It's been a very confusion and chaotic day, sweetie. I promise your Dad and I will choose one for you. Alright?"

The boy nodded. Then Jack interjected. "I actually had an idea. How about Jack Jr?"

"NO!" The other four members of the household shouted.

Jack flashed all of them a hurt look as his wife shook her head. "You said the same thing when we were picking out a name for Danny. And I still don't like it. You can't name everything after yourself."

"Sorry Dad." The clone stated. "Good try though. But I ...uhh… actually had a name in mind. I know that's not really normal and all but…"

Maddie put her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "It's alright honey. What are you thinking?"

The boy wrung his hands. "I was thinking...James."

Danny titled his head questioningly. "That's my middle name...?"

The other boy shrugged. "I know that. But… I like it." He then bit his lip nervously. "And I think it would a good homage to the...connections between us. Since we're different than even normal human twins. Closer."

Maddie tilted her head in confusion. She could understand the clone liking the name- it might be one of the few he knows and he clearly liked and got along with Danny as wouldn't mind the similarity. But she didn't get the rest.

However at the same time, Jazz hummed in understanding. "Is this about the similar core memory sharing thing?"

The clone nodded while Maddie drew her eyebrows together. Beside him, Danny noticed his mom's confused expression. He elbowed his brother, drawing his attention to their mom. "Do you want me to explain or…?"

The other boy looked to Maddie. "No I'll explain. Since Danny and I have nearly identical cores, we can share thoughts, emotions, and even memories. It's a really common thing with ghosts that are closely related but stronger the more similar the two ghosts are." Maddie nodded in understanding. Then the boy continued, nervously rubbing his neck. "So I have a lot of Danny's memories. And they're clear enough that when I woke up ...I...uhh...thought I was Danny."

Maddie's eyes widened comically. She had not been expecting that at all. Then again, she had been wondering why he could walk, talk, and seemed to have basic knowledge- even know specific things about their house and their family- despite having just been born; that simply should not be possible since humans aren't born with language skills and other knowledge. Then again, neither of her son were completely human (That was somewhat of a startling thought.) But Danny's clone thinking he was Danny, that was...something else.

While Maddie was thinking, Jazz nodded beside her. The redhead teenager put one arm around her new brother. "That must have been hard, learning you weren't who you thought you were ...but obviously you don't think that now."

"Yeah." The clone rubbed his neck. "Dad told me and Danny came and found me after I ran off. They both helped me. And it's not that bad once I figured out how to tell which memories were mine and which were Danny's." He frowned. "Even though, I don't have a lot of my own memories."

Maddie frowned at that, at the reminder that this child had only been alive for a few hours. He would never get a proper childhood, being born as a teenager. She'd never get to hold him as a baby, see his first steps, hear his first words. Well, that might not be entirely true, he did have first steps and first words, though Jack was probably the only one there from them. She'd need to ask him for everything that happened in detail. And there would be other firsts but they would be different ones than if he had been born at the same time as Danny, as Danny's twin.

But there was nothing any of them could do about that. Looking up, Maddie found the still sad look on the clone's face. She gave him a side hug. "It's alright, honey. You'll make new memories. And we'll all be here while you do."

"Yeah!" Jack added, excitedly. "We'll go ghost hunting as a family! And fishing, and camping."

Maddie smiled. "And star gazing, if you want to. And picnics in the park, swimming at the pier. That's fun."

"And game nights at home are fun. And I'll take you to the library, see what kind of books you like." Jazz added.

The clone laughed at the other's excitement. "What do you think Danny?"

The boy's smile fell as he noticed Danny's serious face. The older halfa shook his head and sighed. "Sorry. I'm still a little hung up on why you'd want to have my middle name. I mean you can pick anything..or have Mom and Dad pick something out, just for you."

The clone blushed, looking down. "This is kinda embarrassing. But I'm just going to come out and say it." Eyes flickering up, he focused intently on Danny. "I look up to you. Which is kinda weird considering, I partly feel like we're the same age. But you're my big brother. So yeah, I want to be like you to some extent." Seeing Danny's mouth fall open, he back pedalled. "I mean we've already established that I'm not you and I don't want to be you." He bit his lip. "But...you're a good person. You're so selfless and brave and protective. You love your family, friends, and this town so much. And….I like those traits and want to be like that too."

The Fenton parents, Jazz, and Danny remained silent, while Maddie struggled to process this. It was very deep for someone so young, even if he was actually the age he appeared to be. Then again, she knew her children were very intelligent, even if Danny's grades did not reflect that.

However the silence seemed to freak the clone out. He shook his head. "Never mind. That's weird, isn't it? I'm being weird. O God, I'm freaking you guys out. Forget I said anything."

"James." The word fell from Danny's lips. "If you want that to be your name, go for it." His eyes started to water. "That...that means a lot to me. And I get it. I kinda look up to Jazz." He narrowed his eyes at the redhead who was giving him a skeptical side glance. "Don't give me a hard time, Jazz." His tone then turned softer. "But yeah. I don't think it's weird to look up to someone you're close to. Normal even."

The other boy nodded. "I'm glad you're okay with it then. And that I didn't freak you out."

The other family members also nodded. Jazz interjected. "So you're going with James?"

"Yeah. It sounds right to me." The newly named James turned towards his parents. "And I guess Mom and Dad can pick out a middle name for me." Jack started grinning. "But not Jack!"

The man grumbled but didn't argue. Then he smiled slightly, ruffling James's hair. "I got the first two letters though."

James's eyes widened and he huffed. "Ehh, whatever. I'm still sticking with James."

Maddie smiled as well, walking forward to give her new son a proper one-on-one hug. "I love you, James." The boy squeezed her back.

After stepping back, Maddie looked over her family. "Is everyone hunger? We should probably order in."

"Can we get pizza?" Danny asked.

"Umm. That sounds good." James hummed, happily.

Jack ran up the stairs, yelling about who he wanted to order from. The two boys walked up the stairs, talking about what toppings they wanted while Jazz followed behind arguing that they needed to include vegetables. Maddie smiled fondly from behind, enjoying watching her now expanded family.

She paused at the top of the stairs, remembering a question from earlier. Her three kids had gathered on the couch, now discussing what movie to watch after dinner. Maddie stopped in front of them. "Who's Ellie?"

Startled looks passed over the three teenagers faces as they looked at each other, as if silently debating who should speak. Danny finally answered. "She's a clone, like James." Maddie paled as Danny continued. "One of my enemies, who wants me as a son/apprentice/lackey, made her since I wouldn't join him willingly."

"Where is she?"

Jazz answered this time. "We don't know specifically. She travels around but we can get up with her."

"And she does have a safe place to stay with my ghostly allies. She looks about twelve but has been around for six months or so."

Maddie's mind boggled at the information. Another child! She and Jack had another child! One who apparently had been made by one of Danny's enemies and was who knows where! "I need to meet her."

The three kids looked between each other again. Danny replied, sighing. "Ellie should be making her monthly visit to Amity Park in three days. We'll get her to come meet you and Dad. She'll want to meet James too."

James nodded. "Yeah, I'd love to actually meet her."

Maddie looked back at Jack who was ordering pizza over the phone. "I'll need to talk to your dad but I'm sure we'll ask her to stay." She then put her hands through her hair. "And we need to figure out how to deal with the fact that James and Ellie don't legally exist."

James paled. "I hadn't thought of that."

Danny patted him on the back. "We'll figure that out." He wrinkled his nose. "I know it's not really legal but with ghost powers, we can probably get some papers forged."

Maddie quirked her brow. Thinking about her baby having ghost powers was still foreign but he did have a point. She exhaled, giving the three a comforting smile. "We'll work everything out, as a family."

"Yeah, Mom" Danny and James replied at the same time, eliciting blushes and then laughs from the pair.

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Just relax until dinner, kids. We'll talk more about everything tomorrow. It's already been a long enough day."

Maddie left the room to check on Jack who was ordering the pizzas. She'd need to talk to him about what the three just told him but it could wait. Tomorrow they'd have a long discussion about Danny being Phantom and how to deal with having two new children who didn't legally exist. She would ask about the monster who cloned her son and then abused and abandoned that child and they'd figure out how to deal with him as a family. She'd ask Jack about James's birth in detail and discuss buying their new kids clothes, sheets, and other things for their rooms. They'd even talk about getting bunk beds for James and Danny's room.

But for now, today, this day had in fact been long. And truly been unexpected. Full of accidental reveals and one accidental cloning, but finding out about Danny being Phantom, James's birth, and learning about Ellie were happy surprises indeed.


	5. DannyMay 2020- Part 5

For DannyMay: Day 20 Sky, Day 23 Lightening, Day 28 Diner, Day 29 Heat, Day 30 Family, Day 31 Free Day.

Note: I am so excited to revisit this au after like 6 months! I love it so much and hope you enjoy it. We finally see Vlad's reaction and James and Elle meet!

Danny floats in the park, just above the treeline. With crossed arms, he watches the other boy, white haired and in a black and white jumpsuit like him, pace across the sky. Danny glances down; to the humans below, it probably looks like Phantom finally mastered duplication but the truth is more unbelievable. The other boy is a clone, accidentally created by Jack Fenton, and he is Danny Fenton's twin brother.

"I thought Elle would be here by now. You told her where to meet us, right?" The younger halfa glances down at his sibling.

"I did." Danny nods, remembering talking to her on the phone. She'd use the cheap phone he'd bought her to say she'd be coming a week later than her usual day for a monthly visit.

"Maybe she's running late. Oh I hope she's just late."The boy's ghostly tail twitches nervously under him. "She's probably fine, right? Yeah, she's fine."

"James." Danny starts, crossing his arms.

"Do you think she'll like me?" Danny opens his mouth to reply but James continues. "I hope she likes me. What if she doesn't though?"

"James."

"She might not like meeting another clone." The boy wrinkles his nose. "I don't even know how I feel about meeting another clone."

"James."

"Maybe we should have told her before, on the phone. Given her time to adjust." James runs a hand through his hair. "Oh no, she's going to freak out. She's going to freak out 'cause of me, before we convince her to meet Mom and Dad."

"James!" Hovering half a foot higher, Danny addresses the other boy. "You're just freaking yourself out now." James stops his pacing. An almost tangible wave of anxiety wafts off of him, causing Danny to shiver. "And...you're projecting again."

James's mouth snaps shut. "Sorry. I didn't mean to."

Another clear spike of nervousness with a little guilt touches Danny's core and the half ghost briefly winces at his brother's emotions. After a moment, Danny shakes off the emotions. He floats up to be at eye level with the other halfa.

Focusing on calming emotions, Danny gently puts a hand on the other boy's arm. "It's okay. I know you're working on it."

James visibly calms as his nervous emotion tampers in response to Danny's calm. "Yeah. Thanks for being patient."

Danny smiles, comfortingly. "Of course bro." The hand on James's arm moves to his back. "Now how about you take a deep breath and we'll just watch the sunset 'til Elle shows up."

James frowns, another small spike of anxiety transmitting from where Danny is touching him. "But.."

Danny takes a breath, focusing on sending feelings of assurance to his brother. "Elle is fine and she's going to be happy to meet you. Everything's going to go great. I promise."

Sighing, James nods. "Okay. I believe you." The calmed emotions the boy sends aligned with the statement. He then takes a deep breath as Danny suggested, earning a smile from the boy. His attempt to calm his brother worked.

"Alright." Danny removes his hand.

The gentle communication of emotions ceases but not for the first time, Danny is grateful of that new ability. Well, relatively new to him but common to closely related ghosts. It is insanely strong between Danny and James, probably since the two are functionally identical twins. Strong enough the two can communicate memories and thoughts as well. And the strength of that ability explains James's troublesome tendency to mentally scream his emotions at Danny. But the other boy is working on controlling it, only sending emotions deliberately and not often.

But all the same, Danny is grateful. That empathic communication has proven useful for comforting each other before- James when he first discovered he was a clone and Danny after a nightmare a few days ago. Long distance, it could be useful in the future if one of them gets kidnapped or injured. But best of all in Danny's opinion, it makes him feel like he's known James for years, not the ten days the clone has existed. It probably explains why Danny is so quick to call James his twin brother.

"Wow." James's amazed voice cuts through Danny's thought. "The sky's so….beautiful right now."

Danny briefly glances at James, before fixing his eyes on the horizon. His lips turn up in a smile as his eyes widen slightly. "Yeah it is."

Nodding, James looks at his brother for a second, holding his hands in front of him. His smile widens and Danny can't help smiling with him. "That orangish pink color. It's so calming...almost and Those little clouds. The way the light reflects off of them. They look so...light and fluffy." The boy sighs, his hand waving in the air and moving to point. "And right there, where the edge of the cloud met the still blue sky. It's just….wow."

James blinks, wonder still painting his face. Still grinning at seeing his twin so amazed, Danny can't help but chuckle. "Really eloquent at the end there, huh?" He gently elbows the other boy.

James rolls his eyes. "Oh shut up, Danny." He quips fondly.

"No really. You were almost poetic there for a bit but I guess you kinda lost it at the end there." James just shrugs, nonchalantly and Danny continues. "I'm just happy you're not still spazzing."

The other half ghost crosses his arms in faux offense. "I wasn't spazzing."

"Oh please. If you were on the ground, they'd be a new ditch in the park." Danny raises a brow.

"Maybe I was being a little ridiculous." James waves his fingers in a so-so motion.

"A little?"

"Okay, more than a little. Thanks for talking some sense into me."

"No problem." Danny shrugs. "And ya don't have ta keep thanking me."

The other boy gives a subtle grin. "Maybe I'm just a grateful person."

"Yeah." Danny smiles. "So how was your day?" His brother raises an eyebrow at the change of topic. "Mom and Dad weren't too bad, right?"

"Nah." The other boy shakes his head. "They only wanted me to help in lab for a couple hours."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Yeah. It's interesting actually. Mom taught me how to work the microscope. I looked at some of the samples we gave them. It was cool."

"Well, that's good. I'm happy they're not being over the top with the research."

"Yeah. They're not, at all. And really, I'd rather be involved. To know how I work. Make sure I'm healthy."

"I get what you mean." Danny nods, agreeing. He'd also been interested in how being half ghosts works, even before Mom and Dad found out, though he still has a lingering fear of being a lab rat. Danny shivers; Comes from nightmares about being vivisected and experimented on by the GIW and rarely by his parents. Fears that had been greatly eased by his parents' acceptance and understanding. Fears that luckily James didn't seem to have.

But even with his fears, Danny was willing to offer blood and ectoplasm samples, though more for James's benefit than for his parents or his own curiosity. His clone brother's health….well every other clone had had stability issues; Mom and Dad had freaked out a bit, hovering with parental overprotectiveness after finding out. Even Vlad had his problems with ectoacne. Though there hadn't been any indication of problems so far, Danny and James agreed with their parents; it was best to check James before problems showed up so they'd both given samples to establish a baseline.

Danny desperately hopes no stability issues arise with James. A calming hand appears on the halfa's shoulder causing Danny to glance over. James. Clearly the other halfa senses his worry. "I'm fine. And I'm going to stay fine."

"I know." Danny shakes his head, easing at James's comfort. "Doesn't mean I can't worry."

His twin raises a brow. "And you were just getting on me for that earlier."

"That's different." Danny frowns.

"Sure…." The word comes skeptically. "I think we're just both balls of anxiety today."

Danny hums. Okay maybe he's worrying a bit. Not to mention, he's also starting to wonder where Elle is to. Oh, and they hadn't even mentioned the worries about finally dealing with James and Elle's lack of legal documents and what they're going to tell the town so the two, James especially, can finally go out in public. Or Vlad eventually finding out about...everything.

James side-eyes his brother, clearly sensing another anxious spike. "Anyway, enough of that." He sends a nudge of comfort. "How was school, Danny?"

"Ehh pretty standard." Danny pushes down the worries, focusing on the question. "English was boring. Dash was annoying. But I wasn't late for any class and turned in all my homework so that was good. Oh and…" Danny grins. "You won't believe what Wes did."

"What did-" James's question was cut off by his ghost sense, twin puffs of cold air exiting from each half ghost's mouth.

"Ghost child." A metallic ghost voice sounds behind the two half ghosts, causing both to whip around.

"Skulker!" Danny narrows his eyes. "How about we not-"

The half ghost has no time to react before the hunter tases him, a vaguely confused expression on his mechanical face. Danny yelps as the lightning flows through him. His core pulses, threatening to give out as he drops several feet. Above him, James screams as he too is shot, though he remained level in the air.

Skulker glances between the two. "I figured that would disperse one of you."

"I'm not a duplicate!" James yells, earning a confused and exacerbated glare from the hunter ghost.

Danny takes advantage of the distraction to shoot Skulker with an ectoblast from below. The ghost glares, knocked to the side by the hit. A second later, Skulker shots again, his taser grazing James. "Why did it have to be electricity?" The halfa mutters.

Danny agrees with the sentiment; being electrocuted sucks, brings back memories of how he got his powers. He shivers for a second, blasting ice at Skulker who tases him again. He grits his teeth at the pain.

"I'm not paid enough for this." The hunter ghost mutters, turning his attention to Danny, as he rights himself and takes a fighting stance. More ice, another ectoplasm and Skulker looks annoyed and slightly singed. "You little-"

In the chaos both fighters had lost track of the other halfa. "Skulker!" James yells, lodging a shoot and Danny startles as electricity surges through the hunter ghost. He fixes wide eyes on his twin, who stares at the lightning leaps from his finger. "That was unexpected."

"Yeah." He hadn't seen that coming. (Then again, maybe he should; Danny himself had electricity powers but he hated using them. Maybe James just had more affinity for the skill than him.)

In the distraction, both halfas fail to react as Skulker attacks again. Danny screams as electricity surges through him again, the voltage clearly higher as his core sputters and shuts down. The white rings form around his waist turning him human. He plummets to the ground.

"Danny!" His brother darts towards him, ghostly tail trailing after him as he plummets but Skulker lodges another shoot from a different gun. A net wraps around him.

Danny's eyes widen as he hits a branch, falling below it. The leaves block his view of James and Skulker as he struggles to transform. Come on! Another yelp above him, no longer echoing, and Danny hits the ground hard, hitting his head. He passes out.

* * *

Elle darts across the darkened sky. "Stupid ectopus" She grumbles, flying fast to make up time lost fighting the dumb ghost at the edge of Amity Park.

She flies past a restaurant, a dinner Danny took her for burgers before. Oh it smells so good. Her stomach rumbles. Hopefully they can go again once she meets Danny in the park. She turns to the left sharply and thirty seconds later is hovering over a stand of trees in the park, their usual meeting spot. He wasn't floating like normal. Invisible, she glances around, at the playground to the left, the baseball field in front of her. She scans the teenager and kids playing, looking for Danny in his human form. He wasn't there either.

"Danny?" She called.

A groan sounds below her, only audible because of her increased ghostly hearing. A very familiar groan. "Danny!"

Elle darts towards the ground, rustling the leaves as she flies. She hovers to a stop, floating over her original, her older brother. He looks slightly singed and bruised, though luckily not bleeding.

He groans again, blurry eyes blinking open. "James?"

"Who?" Elle frowns, confusion mixing with her concern.

Danny blinks again, clarity quickly entering his gaze. "Elle?" She nods and the boy shoots up. "Elle!" He looks side to side, eyes wide with panic. "Where's James?"

"Who's James?" Elle's head tilts.

"James!" Danny calls again. "James!"

"Who's James?" Elle repeats more forcefully.

"James! Shit." His hand goes to his head. "I think Skulker got him. His first ghost fight and I let him get kidnapped! Stupid!"

"Danny!" Elle shouts, having had enough. She puts an arm on Danny's shoulder and almost recoils at the sharp panic projected through the contact. She rips her arm away, heart rate increasing. "Who's James? What does he look like? Maybe I saw him in the park earlier."

Danny's mouth snaps. He licks his lips, nervously. "If you did, you would know."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elle frowns.

"He was right. I should have told you earlier." Danny sighs. "Well….long story short. Dad accidentally cloned me."

Elle's eyes widen, instantly the size of dinner plates. "Dad? You mean your dad. Your dad, Jack Fenton clone you. Accidentally."

"Yes. So we have a new brother, James."

The girl blinks, mind sputtering. "Your dad cloned you."

"Technically he's your dad too." Danny wrings his hand. "And he and Mom have already said they want you as their kid. Since they know about me being Phantom now."

Elle just stares, feeling like her brain broke. A confusing mix of emotions churns in her gut. Confusion, disbelief. What….how...how do you even make a clone accidentally? anxiety, fear, warriness…..Danny's parents know and want to meet her…but they cloned their son. And what about this James? Is he nice? Will he like her?... And a little excitement at the thought of a new brother, another halfa, another clone like her. Even a little jealousy….another clone, not made by Vlad but by Jack Fenton, right in Danny's house.

Elle shivers, feeling some panic rise as Danny's still ranting. "So James and I were going to meet you here so you and James could get to know each other. And then we'd go home and you can actually meet Mom and Dad. And figure out what to do now."Danny's breath is coming in and out quickly, his chest heaving. "But Skulker showed up and I'm out of practice and James's never fought ghosts before. But I got overconfident and distracted 'cause it was two to one. But I got knocked out and Skulker took James and now I have no idea where they went." His hands shake. "And James is probably freaking out. And Mom and Dad are gonna freak out. And I think I freaked you out, cause you haven't said anything and...and…."

The sight of Danny's wide panicked eyes finally grabs the girl's attention; she can freak out about everything later but Danny and the new clone need her now. "Danny, take a deep breath." The boy shakes his head, struggling to calm his breathing. Bracing herself, Elle puts a hand on his shoulder. She tenses, clearly feeling Danny's panic. She pushes back, sending her best attempt as calm. "Try to calm down. You can't help James like this."

That keenly gets Danny's attention. He takes a deep breath and lets it out. "You're right, you're right. Why am I freaking out like this? James-" He cuts himself off. Closing his eyes, he shakes his head and Elle feels his realization, on top of the lessening panic. "He's projecting again."

"Projecting?" Elle furrows her brow.

"Emotionally projecting. Like how I can feel you're still really confused about all this. But long distance." Danny puts a hand on his head.

Feeling slightly self conscious, Elle removes her hand. Not that she doesn't want Danny to know she's confused, but she's not the most comfortable with the empathic communication they can do as sibling ghosts. Often it's a sad reminder of her clone brothers..err...the brother made by Vlad...and the empathic bonds that are lost to her now. The surge of pain, fear, and love she'd felt from them as they died, the last communication from four people who'd only been able to speak through those emotions.

She swallows. "That's possible?"

"Yeah. James tends to yell his feelings." He pales. "And he's really freaking out. He's really scared." Danny pushes himself to his feet. "We need to find him. But I don't know where Skulker was taking him!" Both hands grip the older halfa's head as the white rings form around his waist. He floats for the ground. "How am I supposed to find him?! We've got to find him."

Before he can dart off, Elle grabs his arm. "Wait. Why don't you try to ask James where he is?"

Danny's ghostly tail twitches under him. His confusion brushes Elle's mind. "What do you mean?"

"If you can feel what he's feeling, maybe he can feel what you are. And...we've communicated thoughts and memories before." Heck Elle had some of Danny's memories, ones she'd gained before she'd meet him. "Maybe you can get him to send an image of where he is."

Danny nods. "Okay. That's a good idea." There's a tickle of gratitude as Danny accepts the idea before Elle moves her hand again. Danny closes his eyes. "James! James!" A pause. "It's okay. Elle and me are going to come get you. You're going to be okay."

After a few seconds, Danny sighs in relief. He opens his eyes, blinking at Elle. "I've got him. Where are you?" It worked? Elle marvels as Danny closes his eyes and wrinkles his brow.

A few seconds later. "Vlad…..Vlad's mansion." He tenses, twitching in the air. "He does? How….nevermind. Find a window to break. Turn human to get through the shield." Danny frowns and Elle copies his expression. At least, it sounds like James managed to get away from Vlad.

Danny's expression morphs into panic. "Tell him you're a clone! It'll throw him off, distract him. Stale him until the three of us can deal with him together." He nods. "Alright. You've got this bro."

Danny opens his eyes and looks at her. She smiles at his now determined expression. "That's a good plan." She pats his shoulder. "He'll be fine 'til we get there."

The older halfa nods. "He will. He can handle it."

Elle can feel he believes it. "Let's go." She floats up and the two half ghosts fly towards Vlad's mansion.

* * *

"Let me go!" James demands, voice wavering despite his attempt to sound confident. The hunter ghost grips the net containing the struggling halfa with one hand.

"Stop struggling." The ghost says sharply.

In response, James just struggles more, reaching for his ghost powers. If he can burn or freeze the net, even use that lightning again. But no luck, his core barely sparks. He swallows. "I'm not just gonna let you skin me!"

Skulker glares down. "As much as I would love to acquire your pelt today, I must deliver you to my employer."

"Your employer?" James pales, confusion and a small suspicion tickling his mind.

"You know who I work for." The hunter narrows his eyes skeptically.

Plasmius. That must be who Skulker is delivering him too. Panic spikes in the boy as he continues his struggling. What...why….why did the older halfa hire Skulker to capture him?! Does Plasmius know about everything? Is he going to threaten James? Try to convince him to leave his family? Manipulate or bribe or threaten or...

"Stop that!" Skulker demands, cutting through the panicked thoughts. A taser jabs at the boy's skin, the electricity making his muscles lock up. He falls limp.

The trees and buildings blur past as James tries to convince his muscles to move. His mind pounds with worry about the upcoming confrontation. But all too soon, Skulker turns both of them invisible and phases into a large home at the edge of town, almost a mansion. The hunter comes to a stop in a fancy looking room with bookcases, a desk, and a fireplace. He unceremoniously dumps James on the floor and pulls the net off of him. The young halfa lies on the floor for a few seconds, trying to gain his bearings before a disapproving voice washes over him.

"Now. You did not damage him too badly, did you Skulker?"

"Of course not." Skulker says, reaching down and yanking James to his feet. "I have delivered the ghost child as you asked."

"I can see that." Vlad eyes the wavering halfa judgmentally before waving Skulker off. "You may leave."

Skulker removes his hand from James's arm, the sudden lack of support causing him to almost lose his balance. He dips forward, his heart pounding in his chest, but his hands brace on the chair in front of him. A few seconds of staring at his feet and James manages to steady himself enough to stand without the support though his knees shake.

"This would be much easier if you would answer my phone calls." Vlad's voice, severely annoyed as if he's been terribly inconvenienced, causes James's head to whip up.

"What?" He manages to quietly ask. What phone calls?.

Vlad shows no indication he heard the question. He motions to the chair near James, on the opposite side of the desk from where the older halfa is sitting. "Have a seat." James remains immobile, frozen in fear as he finally takes in the older halfa's appearance. Long, silver hair. An impeccable, expensive suit. He is postured, back straight, everything in his body language screaming control, experience, subtle intimidation. Ever the cat he's slowly stroking in his lab communicates malice intent, someone cunning, three steps ahead of you. Until they snap.

The older halfa narrows his eyes at the lack of response. "Have a seat." James shivers; and the worse part is the ghostly aura of power. His cold core can sense the burning, heat wafting off of the other halfa's core. "I said, have a seat." Blue eyes flash red, an almost manic fire just below the surface, barely controlled but waiting to build and consume.

James obeys, sitting heavily in his chair. And Vlad grins maliciously. "Much better." After a second, the smile lessens into a taunting frown. "What is this? No quips, no demands, no idle threats of violence. Have you finally learned your place, boy?"

The younger halfa fights not to cringe at the insult. He swallows. "Why did you have Skulker bring me here?"

The malicious taunting ends, morphing into a more neutral expression. "As I said, you never answer my calls. And you've been extraordinarily quiet, little badger. You've not barged in my office in months, no threats or taunts." Vlad ceases petting the cat which hops up onto the desk. It bats at some knick-knacks, including a cylindrical container. Was that a Fenton Thermos? Vlad bats the cat away. "Shoo, Maddie."

James cringes at the name. Vlad has a cat named after his mom, seriously?

Vlad continues. "I had figured you would fall into at least one of my traps in the last month. But alas, nothing. I have to say. I am unsure whether to be impressed or disappointed."

James doesn't respond, carefully avoiding the other halfa's eyes. Dread and confusion, subdued panic, swirl in his gut. Months...what is Vlad talking about, he hasn't...?

"You remain silent?" Vlad raises a brow before he sighs. "Is your mother's intelligence finally showcasing itself? Instead of your father's moronic short sightedness? Have you finally learned to hold your tongue?"

A little anger spikes, only adding to James's fear instead of relieving it. "Don't talk about my dad like that." He argues quietly.

"I will speak of the idiot Jack Fenton however I wish." Vlad narrows his eyes. "Now tell me, what are you up to?"

"What? Up to?" James tilts his head. He's not up to anything. He still doesn't understand...

"Yes, You are up to something. Even now you are acting suspiciously." Vlad glares.

"I….I don't know what you're talking about." The younger halfa swallows curling in on himself.

"This meek, frightened act is unbecoming, boy."

"It's not…" James tries to defend, feeling his anxiety radiating off of him.

"Oh. You admit I intimidate you now?" Vlad raises a brow.

"No." James shakes his head, denying. He's not intimidated, no.

Fire ignites in Vlad's hand, the heat burning into James's skin. "You should be intimidated. Have you finally realized what a powerful enemy you've made? If only you'd joined me at the beginning, Daniel."

Daniel? His original's name rings in the clone's head. And he feels very stupid.

"But you have lost your opportunity to join me as a son."

Vlad thinks he's Danny. Shit, shit, shit.

"You wish me to be the villain? I will play the part. But I will not be ignored. "

Vlad thinks he's Danny and is doing the whole villain speech, like James is the one who refused and thwarted him at every turn.

"I said, I will not be ignored. Are you even listening boy?" Vlad hisses, heat streaming off of him.

Oh he's listening. James can't help but listen. What does he say? What can he do?

Vlad's flaming hand appears in front of his face. "You will listen. This is my game, understand."

Game. This is a game to him. Images of Vlad overshadowing and sending ghosts after his dad. Trying to steal their portal. Flirting with Mom. Stealing the Ring of Rage, the Infinity Map. Infecting Sam and Tucker with ectoacne. Injecting Jazz with nanobots and forcing her into a metal suit.

The flames inch closer. "This is my game. And you do not get to choose when you exit."

Vlad shooting him, punching him, kidnapping him. Not, not him. The fuzzy haze of borrowed memories. Vlad electrocuting and torturing his brother. A scream as he's forced to turn human.

"It's...it's not a game." It's not. It's life and death. Images of Elle melting. The other clones. THE OTHER CLONES.

"Oh yes it is." Vlad grins wickedly. "My game. You do not get to choose to stop playing."

"No." James shakes his head.

"Do you understand me, Daniel?" The man sneers, flames licking at his fingers.

But he's not Danny. He has many of Danny's memories but he's not Danny. He's never been Danny. He's James. He didn't ask to be part of this, Vlad's game. He doesn't know! Doesn't know!

James's chest heaves as he manages to nod, mostly so Vlad doesn't burn his face off.

"Better." The fire in Vlad's hand dies and the man leans back. "Now tell me what you are hiding."

James blinks. "What?"

"You are acting strangely." The older man narrows his eyes. "What happened, Daniel? What are you hiding?"

Hiding? That he's not Danny. Should he tell Vlad he's not Danny? Or keep pretending? He doesn't want to pretend to be Danny. Not when he's had enough trouble separating his identity from Danny's. He's not a copy, doesn't want to be a copy. But…..Vlad's words from Danny's memory. _You exist to serve me. _Vlad is not his maker but Vlad never valued the lives of Elle and the other clones. Will Vlad see him as subhuman too?

Vlad snaps his fingers. "Daniel. Tell me."

"No." James shakes his head.

In the blink of an eye, Vlad stands in front of him, a hand on his upper arm. "You will tell me, boy."

Flickering intangible, James pulls out of Vlad's grip. "Leave me alone!" His core pulses, a mix of fear and anger. He needs to get away. Summoning the rings, he's blessedly able to transform.

"Really, Daniel? Must we fight? We can talk like civilized people." Vlad rolls his eyes, condescendingly.

If James wasn't so afraid, he'd have scoffed. Instead he shot an ectoplasm as strong as he could form quickly. It hit the still human halfa, knocking him into the desk. James flees before Vlad can recover. He flies out of the office and into a long hallway. Which way? Which way?! Not pausing to think he continues forward and is at the front door in seconds. He tries the knob. Shit, it's locked! Try a window? In the dining room. He's breathing too fast, his heart too fast. He tries to push open a window when a voice yells into his head.

_James! _James puts his hand on his head. What was that? That wasn't his thought. _James!_

James startles again, but he recognizes the voice for lack of a better word. "Danny?" He whispers.

_It's okay. Elle and me are going to come get you. You're going to be okay._ Danny's voice shouts again.

"Danny!" He physically and mentally shouts. "Can you hear me?"

A mental sigh of relief, a conformation. _I've got him._ Quiet, not directed at him. _Where are you?_ The second sentence is stronger, a question directed at him.

"I'm...I'm at Vlad's mansion. Trying to get away." He pulls at the window and glances outside. "Ghost shield."

A few seconds later. _Vlad…..Vlad's mansion._ Danny repeats.

"Doors locked. Can't get out." He flies through the wall into the kitchen, receiving concern at the message.

"Daniel! You are not leaving until I say you are." Vlad calls from somewhere in the mansion.

James frowns, twitching in the air. "Vlad thinks I'm you."

_He does? How….nevermind. Find a window to break. Turn human to get through the shield._

He really should have thought of that himself. "On it." Before James can look for something to break the window with, Vlad barges into the room.

_He found me._ The young halfa mentally screams.

Growling, Vlad in Plasmius form grabs his arm. The world swirls as he teleports both of them back to the office.

"You thought you were clever, didn't you, little badger?"

_Tell him you're a clone! It'll throw him off, distract him. Stale him until the three of us can deal with him together. _

Vlad sneers in his face. "I am in control here, not you.

James mentally cringes and Danny sends him comforting sympathy._ You've got this bro._ The words are confident; Danny believes in him completely.

Before James can respond, Danny's mental presence disappears, leaving James feeling alone. But he can do this. Stealing his courage, James sneers right back.

Pupiless red eyes flashing dangerously, Vlad slaps him. "You thought you could escape from me?!" James startles from the hit as Vlad shakes him. "This is my house, Daniel."

"I'm not Daniel!" The boy spits out, heart still pounding with fear.

"I don't care that you prefer Danny-" Vlad starts.

"I'm a clone." James shouts, the statement sounding more confident than he feels.

"That is a ridiculous lie. Why would I believe that Daniel?" Vlad glares.

"My name's James. And it's...it's not a lie." James swallows. "I can prove it."

"You are not tricking me, boy." Vlad shakes him again and throws him into the chair.

Hands shaking, James starts to pull off his right glove. "I...I don't have his lichtenberg scar."

"That is-" Vlad's words cut off as James waves the scar free hand. The older halfa's eyes widen as he grabs the hand, inspecting it. "This is impossible."

"Don't touch me!" James pulls away, glaring at Vlad despite the goose bumps rising.

Vlad ignores him, seemingly talking to himself. "You cannot cover up or shapeshift away death scars." True, and James didn't have Danny's death scar because he'd never died like Danny had. "I can sense you are a half ghost. But….the only clone left in the wretched girl."

"Don't talk about her like that." James grits his teeth.

Vlad finally looks in his eyes. "You are not one of mine." James cringes at the thought of him being Vlad's. The older halfa doesn't register the reaction, his brow furrowing like he's trying to solve a difficult math problem. "Unless….no. None of them could be restabilized after the complete destabilization. So made by another ghost? Why?" As much as James wants to spit out the truth, he lets Vlad sweat it out. "Who else would want to clone Daniel? Who would even be capable of such a thing?" Vlad blinks at James and shakes his head. "Who is your maker, boy?"

"He's not my maker. My dad." James crosses his arms.

Vlad rolls his eyes. "How quaint. Still, who created you?"

"Jack Fenton." Despite the tension, a slight smile appears on his face.

Vlad blinks. "Excuse me?"

"Jack Fenton. The man you called an idiot earlier, he's my dad and the person who cloned me."

"That is impossible. You are mistaken." Vlad shakes his head, eyes wide.

"I am not." James deliberately keeps his voice steady. "Jack Fenton made me."

"Jack...Jack Fenton is an idiot. He could never-" Vlad sputters, startling to look off balanced.

"Well he did." James points. "And he did it on accident." Though the words sting, he forces them out.

"No. He could not….He did not…." Vlad shakes his head, collapsing into his chair, still in ghost form. "Jack Fenton is too much of a moron…"

"Stop calling my Dad a moron!" James leans forward, real anger prickling.

"But how?" Vlad blinks again. "How could he even manage to clone someone by accident?"

"We don't know." He narrows his eyes. "And even if we did, we'd never tell you." Memories of how Vlad treated the other clones flashes in James's mind. "We destroyed everything. The invention, all the records so you will never get your hands on it, you heartless-"

Vlad puts up his hands, a calculating look entering his face. "Come now. I believe we got off on the wrong foot. I am Vlad Masters-"

"I know who you are." James cuts him off.

"I suppose you do. Then you know I am wealthy, powerful. I can offer you luxury, knowledge, teach you everything I know. All I require-"

"Is that I turn on my family?!" James raises a brow, his fist balling.

"Now little badger…" Vlad says, belittling.

"Really! You have Skulker kidnap me. And the wrong half ghost by the way." The younger half ghost frowns angrily. "You threaten me, hurt me, trap me in here. And then you try to get me on your side. Are you serious?!"

"If you had told me who you were from the beginning-" Vlad puts his hands out.

"You routinely kidnap and beat up a teenager! How is that acceptable?!"

"Daniel can be very….head strong. He needs a firm hand." The man slimily tries to excuse.

"Shut up! I know how you work! You manipulate and cheat to get what you want. You are a horrible person who hates my Dad, wants my Mom to marry you, and Danny to be your half ghost lackey."

"Is that what your original told you? All I want is love. A child to pass on my legacy, my knowledge. That could be you, if you take what I offer."

"If you just want a kid, why did you clone Danny?" James spit out. "Why not adopt?"

Vlad blinks, the question seeming to startle him. "I want someone of my own kind, another half ghost who can understand me."

"You had a half ghost kid, Danielle. And you threw her away!" James yells, indignant.

The man seems to pale, despite his blue skin. "You do not know what you speak about."

"Yes I do." James points, one finger deliberately on his head. "I know what you did to her and the other clones. I know what you've done to my Dad and my Mom. To my brother, Danny." James grins. "And Mom and Dad know about you." Vlad blinks, looking startled. "They know about you trying to kill Dad. You beating up and kidnapping my brother."

"Now that is all exaggerated." The older half ghost argues, baring his teeth.

"It's not and you know it! My family knows what you did now and you'll never get what you want. Not your revenge or Mom's heart. Or Danny or me or even another clone as a pawn." James leaned forward glaring.

"Why you little-" Vlad's aura flares, his hand igniting with ectoblasts.

"And you know what's really sad. Dad was so upset when Danny told him about you, 'cause he thought you were friends. He cares about you so much but you've hurt his family, repeatedly because you're jealous! You don't just want to be loved! You want to control people! You want to buy their love and allegiance."

"What do you know, little clone boy?" The older halfa hisses, turning the tables. James pales at the verbal lashing as Vlad floats off of his seat, the ectoblasts in his hands flickering like fire. "How dare you lecture me? I only want what I am owed, the life, the family that was stolen from me because of Jack Fenton's stupidity! You're what? A week old? What do you know about love or a family?"

James's heart clenches at the stark reminder of his origin, his youth. He was a practically newborn clone. Maybe he was talking about things he didn't know. But then again…he schools his expression, narrowing eyes at the older halfa. "I know I have a family and they love and accept me. They always have and I didn't have to bribe or manipulate them. That's more than you can say."

"You ungrateful!" Eyes glowing like coal, Vlad leaps at James who ducks.

The enraged halfa barely misses him and James curses himself. He was supposed to keep him talking, not provoke him to fight. An ectoblast hits James into the table and he lands heavily on the floor.

Something falls in his lap, the thermos. With the word, Fenton, on it. In the blink of an eye, James rips the lid off and points the beam at Vlad. The older half ghost's expression morphs from anger to panic as he's sucked in. With a cry of protest, Vlad disappears within the device and James slams the lid down.

The boy stays on the floor, breathing heavily for several moments. He stares at the thermos; it has a small note engraved on it. 'To V-man from your friend Jack'

Looking down, James sighs. He studies the thermos and addresses its occupant. "You know, Mom and Dad do love you Vlad, just not in the way you want. And yeah, I don't know everything. All I have are borrowed memories and what Jazz and Danny told me. But maybe things could have been different. You were supposed to be our Uncle Vlad."

The boy places the thermos on the floor beside him and returns to his human form. Luckily, he's for the most part unhurt physically, though a confusing mix of emotions surge through him from his confrontation with Vlad. He meant most of what he said, feeling anger at Vlad's treatment of his family mixed with a little pity of the man.

With another sigh, James pushes himself to his feet. Hopefully Danny and Elle would be here soon. Maybe he should find the shield and turn it off. Something crashes in another room, causing James to dart out of the office, thermos in hand. He runs into the dinning room in time to see Danny flying through the window.

"Danny!" "James!" Both shout at the same time.

James runs forward and a second later, the two brothers hug.

"Are you okay? Where's Vlad? Did he hurt you?" Danny rambles, his relief washing over James.

James's muscles relax for the first time since Skulker attacked. "I'm fine. I'm fine. He didn't hurt me that bad."

"That bad?!" With one last squeeze, Danny steps back. His eyes trail James's figure, looking for injuries. He winces, seeing the fresh burn marks near James's neck. "He got you with an ectoblast?"

"Yeah." James frowns looking down at the burn peeking out from his shirt.

"It doesn't look bad at least." Danny wrinkles his nose.

"So...where's Vlad?" A female voice beside the two boys draws James's attention away. His eyes fall on the other floating half ghost. Messy shoulder length white hair, green eyes, a black and white jumpsuit similar to his and Danny's but with different accents. Though she's only seen her through Danny's memories, he knows this is Elle, the other still living clone.

"Yeah. What happened?" Danny asks.

James held up the thermos. "I riled him up like Danny said." And he's so grateful that worked, that his empathic bond with his brother let him get help when he was in over his head. "I managed to capture him."

Elle's jaw drops. "You captured Vlad." She holds up her hand for a high five. "That's awesome!"

The two high five and James get a burst of excitement and curiosity from the contact. He smiles. "I'm James by the way. But I figure Danny said that."

"I'm Elle." She waves. "So you're a clone, like me."

James furrows his brow. "Yeah."

"Cool." She nods. "So….what are we doing now?"

James glances at the thermos again. "I guess we…." He trails off unsure.

"We can take the thermos home. See what Mom and Dad want to do." Danny says with a frown.

"Can we get some food first?" Elle asks. "I'm starving."

James nods. "Yes! I could go for some food too. I need to do something fun after…..that."

"Oh can we go to that dinner you took me to before, the one with the good burgers Danny?!" Elle's eyes lit up with excitement.

Expression skeptical, Danny looks between James and Elle. "How exactly are we supposed to…." He motions between himself and James.

The other boy grins, getting an idea. "How about you go as Danny Fenton.." He transforms into his ghost half. "And I'll go as Phantom?"

Danny's eyes widen as he deadpans. "And that won't be suspicious at all."

James shrugs. "Amity Park is weird. No one will bat an eye."

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Elle floats forward, grabbing James's arm. "Let's do it! Let's go. Please Danny. Please." She gives her best puppy dog eyes. James can't help but laugh, lips pouting ever so slightly too.

Danny looks between the two of them. "I'm not sure if this is a horrible or a wonderful idea." He points. "And are you two going to gang up on me now?"

James grins. "Sometimes." He gently elbows Danny. "Come on. Mom and Dad said we had until ten to get home. So we've got time to hang out."

Danny lips turn up into a smile. "Alright, let's go." He glances out the window, seeing the ghost shield. "Maybe we should turn the ghost shield off first."

"Good idea." Elle nods.

Five minutes of looking and James finds the button hidden in Vlad's office. The shield turns off and the three phase outside the building. James looks up, taking in the starry sky.

"Do you like the stars too?" Elle floats beside him.

He nods smiling at her. "Yeah. I do."

"They're really pretty in the desert. I was there a few months ago. And...wow." Elle marvels.

Danny flies up, from James's left. "Maybe all three of us can go together some time."

"I'd like that." James grins.

Elle hums in agreement before darting in front of the boys. "Danny. Jamie. Let's go! Last one there is a rotten egg!"

She's laughing and flying off before James can ask about the nick name (it's kinda nice, and fits with Danny and Elle's names).

Danny's in front of him, fleeing. "I am not gonna be a rotten egg!"

James laughs, the sound loud and happy. His heart bubbles with love for his two half ghost siblings. Danny, his brother whose been there believing in him since the beginning (it's been 10 days but it's a longtime when it's his whole life). Elle, his little (biologically at least) sister who he looks forward to getting to know; maybe he shouldn't have been afraid of her not liking him. They have a lot ahead of them- dealing with Vlad, ids and birth certificates, the explanations for the teacher and students. Elle still needs to meet Mom and Dad. But right now is time for burger and sibling bonding.

"Wait for me!" James yells, flying off after the two half ghosts.


	6. Spatter- Part 6

Sunday October 25th- Spatter

After a short flight from Vlad's mansion, the trio of siblings land behind the dumpster at the Nasty Burger. Quickly checking that no one is looking, Danny returns to human form.

Elle looks side to side. She summons the rings before halting. "Wait. Do I need to go as a human or ghost?"

The currently human halfa furrows his brow in thought. "Well, the last time I took you here, you pretend to be Danny Fenton's cousin. We didn't run into any problems."

"Let's just do that again then." James suggests. "Plus two ghosts with one human would draw more attention than one ghost and two humans."

"I agree." The girl nods as she sets her feet on the ground. "I'll go as Danny's cousin." Looking around, she transforms, leaving her in an only slightly ratty hoodie and jeans. She then turns to the still floating halfa. "And Jamie's gonna pretend to be Phantom."

The floating boy crosses his arms. "I am Phantom." Danny raises an eyebrow in question and the other halfa shrugs. "Or...a Phantom. Since I'm Jamie Phantom in ghost form, I guess."

"Jamie Phantom?" His brother asks.

"It had more of a ring than James Phantom. Plus it fits better with Danny Phantom and Elle Phantom." He taps his chin. "Actually I might just start going by Jamie."

"Oh, okay." Danny encourages. "Go for it if you want to. Although…" He points to the door. "We should probably stick with just Phantom in public, since no one knows there's actually three of us."

The boy nods. "So I'm pretending to be THE Phantom."

"Wait. I'm THE Phantom?" Danny questions.

"You're the only one anyone knows about...for now." Elle smiles teasingly.

"I mean, eventually people will put the pieces together, if they see the three of us together in ghost form." Jamie comments. "But I get what I'm doing." He puts his hands on his hips in a superhero posse. "I'm the Protector of Amity Park."

Elle laughs and Danny rolls his eyes. "I don't sound like that."

"Sure you don't." Elle quips, earning a laugh from Jamie.

"Come on." The floating halfa motions. "I'm hungry."

"Alright." Danny pulls out his phone to check the time. "We've got about an hour."

The oldest of the group leads the way with Elle walking beside him and James floating right behind. He takes a breath, pushing down nerves. Despite how confident Jamie acts, the idea of impersonating his brother's alter ego makes him somewhat nervous. Phantom is a public figure and though they joked about Amity Park being weird and no one batting an eye, there is a good chance other kids at school at least will hear about this. This could influence Phantom's perception and people's opinion of him, depending on what people say and….

Danny stops turning around. "I trust you."

The conviction of the words is all Jamie needs to find the strength to push down the worry. He takes a breath, nodding. "Thanks.

With his own nod, the other boy continues forward. He pulls the door to the restaurant open, holding it open for Elle and Jamie to enter. The three approach the counter to order. For a moment, Jamie thinks he sees a familiar dark-skinned girl walking around a corner to an area marked employee's only but the figure disappears out of sight before he can really think about who it is.

In front of him, Danny and Elle stop, looking over the menu board and waiting for the couple in front of them to order.

"I think I'm gonna get a bacon double cheeseburger combo." The human boy comments.

This draws Jamie's attention to the board. His eyes widen, slightly overwhelmed at the selection. They have that many burger options and 52 different shakes! From Danny's memories, he knew there were a lot of choices but this is extra.

As the people in front of them receive their food and walk away, the trio step forward. The black haired boy gently pokes his brother's arm. "What do you want?"

Jamie tilts his head in consideration. He leans forward to quietly ask. "Are you going to be offended if I get the same thing as you?"

"Order whatever you want, bro." Danny says as he pulls out his wallet. He looks up at their cashier. "Hey Kyle."

The red-haired cashier, apparently named Kyle, looks between Danny and 'Phantom' with slight shock. The floating halfa frowns, trying to attach a memory to the name and face. He looks familiar.

"Dude….awesome hologram!" Kyle exclaims after a moment, his eyes wide. "It looks so realistic. Did your parents make this?"

"Uhhh…" Jamie gives him a puzzled look. That...was not expected. Shock from seeing a ghost in a mundane situation. Admiration or scorn, depending on if the person in question was a fan of Phantom or not. But this? He glances at Danny who shrugs.

"Yeah." Danny answers. "He's useful for when Phantom needs to be in two places at once."

The cashier nods. "Adding more spectacle to the show, huh?" His eyes trail up and down Jamie. "Wow. This looks just like you in costume, a lot more solid than the other ghosts." He puts the word in air quotes, emphasizing his disbelief in the spectral beings.

Jamie gaps, unsure how to process all that but one thing sticks out. He leans forward, voice quiet. "You...you know about….?" He trails off, not wanting to give the secret away if it wasn't already spilled.

"Sorry, forgot it was a secret." Kyle leans forward, saying the last word teasingly as if the idea of Phantom's real identity being a secret was ridiculous. "And it's interactive too! That's so rad." The teen at the register grins

"I'm not an it." Jamie glares, crossing his arms.

The red-head blinks, his mouth forming an O-shape. "So you're not just a recording or something…." He trails off, thinking for a moment. "Are you an AI then?"

"An artificial intelligence?" Danny tilts his head back and forth contemplatively. "Well, I'm not sure about the intelligent part..." He smiles teasingly.

The floating boy scoffs, faux offended. "I know you are but what am I?"

Elle snorts. "That's not how you use that insult. Even I know that!"

The ghost blushes green. "I...well…"

Kyle waves his hand. "It's all good man. You're learning." He offers a smile. "Guess I should introduce myself, huh? I'm Kyle Weston. I go to school with Danny."

"I kinda figured that." The ghost comments. "I'm J-...I'm uhh...Phantom, but I guess you knew that." The boy blushes, silently cursing himself for the near slip up.

Apparently, the cashier does not notice as he wrinkles his brow and points at Danny. "His parents made you." He turns to address the other halfa. "And they made you."

The black-haired boy purses his lips, clearly uncomfortable. "Uhhh….technically yes. But...don't ever say it like that again."

The red head nods but doesn't acknowledge the statement. "Does that mean you're brothers?"

The two boys, who are actual brothers, look at each other with twin puzzle expressions. Not over the question itself; there is no doubt about whether or not they are siblings. But at the ludicrousness of the situation and the off the wall question. After a moment, Danny turns back to the other teen. He shrugs. "I guess...Yeah."

The red head sighs. "Man, that's cool. I'd love to have an AI for a brother."

Danny laughs. "Don't let Wes hear you say that. He might think you're in the market for a replacement."

The other teen also laughs. Then he peers down at Elle. "Who's this?"

"This is my cousin Elle." Danny answers.

Kyle waves. "Hi cousin Elle." Then he frowns. "But I've never seen her at any family reunions."

"She's a cousin on my Dad's side, not Mom's." The other teen explains.

The red-head hums, as if that answers it. But Jamie just looks between the two feeling like he's missing something. Danny notices the facial expression. "Kyle's a cousin on Mom's side of the family."

"Oh. Okay." The ghost boy nods.

Behind them, someone coughs. Jamie looks back to find a small group waiting to be served behind them. He turns back. "We need to go ahead and order. Other people are waiting."

"Right." Danny nods. "I'll have a number 3. Phantom, you want the same?"

"Yep." The ghost responds. "But uh...no mustard on that."

Elle perks up at her turn. "I want the number 6."

"Mighty Meaty Combo? Good choice." The cashier comments, pressing a few buttons. "Anything else?"

"We all want shakes, right?" Danny says. Jamie and Elle nod in agreement. "I'll do a peanut butter bacon shake."

"I'll do strawberry cheesecake." Elle interjects.

Jamie looks for the board for a few seconds. "I'll do….the oreo mint shake."

"Alright." Kyle nods. "I've got you for.." He reads off the order and at the confrontation that it is correct, rings Danny up. The boy hands over his money. " 2 dollars and 23 cents is your change." He hands over the bills and coins. He hands Danny three cups and points down the counter. "Your food will come out over there."

The trio step back to wait. Danny hands Elle her cut before addressing Jamie. "I'll get your drink if you'll wait for the food. What do you want?"

The ghost boy glances at the soda dispenser. "I'll take Dr. Pepper."

"Got it." He walks off while Jamie turns back to the counter to wait.

Not even thirty seconds later, their number is called. The ghost boy floats forward to grab the tray. The employee who had just put down the last burger looks up meeting the ghost's eyes. "Phan...Phantom?" She stutters.

"Yeah." Jamie approaches trying to act natural. "This one's mine." He looks over the food before frowning slightly. "We ordered shakes too?" He questions.

The girl shakes her head, presumably to shake off the shock. "Someone will bring them out to you."

"Oh. Okay." The ghost picks up the tray. "Thank you."

Jamie turns around in time to find Danny just finishing with both their drinks. The other boy looks up. "Oh. That was fast."

"Yeah." Jamie comments, floating forward to join Danny. A moment later, Elle comes from the left, holding her drink in one hand and a wad of napkins and ketchup packets in the other.

The girl points at a booth along one of the walls. "Let's sit there."

Following Elle, the two boys walk (and float) past chairs and tables. Jamie surveys the other restaurant patrons. One middle aged couple, a group of college students in the back, and - The ghost boy tenses - a few groups of teenagers. His eyes flicker over the teens, recognition dimly dawning on him. There's Mikey, Nathan, and some other of their band geek friends. And by the window, three upperclassmen in Jazz's grade. And….

He turns at the sound of a gasp, his neon green eyes meeting another pair of green, though more human colored, ones. Another red-haired teenager boy, bearing a strong family resemblance to their cashier, stares at him, his mouth opening and closing. He sits beside a muscular asian boy in a letterman jacket. Jamie frowns, his heart fluttering uncomfortably in his chest at the silence, at the eyes boring into him. Who are…..

"What the hell is going on?" The red head suddenly barks out, gaze flickering between Danny and 'Phantom.'

Danny turns to the boy, shrugging. "I'm getting dinner."

"Who's that?" The teen points at Elle. "And how the hell are you in two places at once?" He motions between Danny and Jamie.

Realization suddenly dawns in Jamie's mind. Wes Weston, brother to Kyle Weston. That's who is in front of him. For his brother's memories, Jamies knows exactly who Wes is and what his deal is. The ghost boy glances at his brother, taking in the dawning mischievous expression. He knows what that look means.

Danny rolls his eyes. "Are you still going on about that Wes?" He points at the ghost. "I'm clearly not Phantom." He scoffs. "Someone obviously can't be dead and alive at the same time."

Jamie crosses his arms, letting a teasing smile creep onto his face. The good thing about sharing memories with Danny? He knows exactly how to mess with Wes.

"Are you still spreading this ridiculous conspiracy about me?" The ghost also rolls his eyes. "I mean, I know I'm one of the most lively ghosts around, but that's not what that expression means."

"But...but" Wes furiously looks between the two boys. "I've watched you change."

Danny and 'Phantom' look between each other questioningly. The human's eyes widen. "Dude...Wes, I know we have gym together but….."

Wes turns red, maybe in anger, maybe in embarrassment. "No. That's not...I didn't…"

"Okay, Weston." Danny puts up his hands. "I'd say I'm flattered. But that'd be a lie. Your stalking is creepy."

"I'm not a stalker!" The red head practically yells the statement before blushing as he notices judgmental eyes on him. He swallows, shoulders falling in embarrassment. "Whatever Fenton." He glares at 'Phantom.' "I don't know how you're doing this but I know the truth."

Jamie raises a brow. "That you're harassing me and this innocent civilian?"

"Innocent civilian?! He's you!" Wes balls his fists.

Danny looks down, shaking his head. "And we're back to running in circles." He starts walking away. "Come on Elle, Phantom. Ignore him."

"You can't-" Wes starts.

His friend, named Kwan if Jamie remembers correctly, elbows him. "Drop it Wes."

The red-head opens and closes his mouth a few times, before crossing his arms. "Fine. I'll drop it...for now." The boy then glances at Elle, pointing. "But who the hell is this?"

Danny narrows his eyes. "My cousin, Elle. And stop cussing in front of her."

"He's right, you really shouldn't cuss in front of a ten year old." Jamie rebukes.

Elle gaps. "I'm twelve!"

The ghost rolls his eyes, his lips turning up. "My mistake."

She crosses her arms. "And he can cuss in front of me if he f-cking wants to."

At the same time, Danny and Jamie exclaim. "Elle!" "Danille!" The older halfa's alarm sounds much more authentic than his brother's.

"You better not say something like that in front of my parents!" Danny rebukes.

The girl wiggles her eyebrows. "Why shouldn't I?"

"I'll...buy you a milkshake if you don't?" The boy half-smiles at her hopefully.

"You're already buying all of us milkshakes." Jamie comments.

"You're not helping Phantom!" Danny turns to glare at him.

The ghost put up his hands. "I just thought I'd point it out."

"Guys, stop." Elle shook her head, tapping the human boy to get his attention. "I'm not gonna cuss in front of Aunt Maddie and Uncle Jack. I don't feel like getting my mouth washed out with soap." She grins. "But it's just too much fun to mess Danny."

The oldest halfa glares at her, before blushing. Jamie can't help but laugh at his facial expression, Elle's laughter joining his.

Danny looks down, moving his hands up like he wants to put his head in his hands but is blocked by his and Jamie's drink. "I'm starting to think bringing you guys here was a bad idea." There's just a hint of teasing in his voice to suggest he's being sarcastic. Jamie stops laughing all the same.

There is silence for a moment after Kwan cuts in. "Uh….Danny...why are you hanging out with Phantom? Don't your parents hate him?"

"They don't hate Phantom." Danny grumbles. "They have a truce with him."

"Really, since when?" Wes asks, the previous anger leached from his voice.

Kwan and Wes turn to look at who they think is Danny Phantom. "Well…. The Fentons finally agreed to sit down and talk with me."

"Okay." Kwan shrugs. "But still...why are you hanging out with Fenton?"

The ghost shrugs. "He had money and I wanted a burger."

Danny gaps and Jamie isn't sure whether he's really offended or not. The ghost boy puts his hands up anyway. "Ghost fighting does not pay."

"That's literally how Mom and Dad make a living!"

"I guess that is true…. But still, no one pays me to fight ghosts." Jamie points a thumb at himself. "But seriously, I just want to enjoy a burger with my new friend and his cousin."

"You're….friends?" Kwan gaps.

The ghost shrugs. "I've been working with the Fentons a lot now...mostly in the lab, since they realized actually talking to a ghost is better than yelling insults…. and they have a son who is about my age. Is it really a surprise we would end up friends?"

Kwan and Wes look between each other before both shrug. "I guess that makes sense." Kwan replies. "Good luck with the Fentons, Phantom."

Jamie gives a nod. "Thank you." He holds up the tray. "Now if you wouldn't mind, I would like to sit down and eat."

Kwan opens his mouth, like he has more questions, before closing it and waving the trio off. Wes sits with his arms cross as he watches Danny and 'Phantom' with an annoyed, if still puzzled look. Jamie ignores him, while he floats behind Danny and Elle. The three take a seat near the double doors labeled employee's only, presumably leading to the kitchen.

Sighing, Jamie puts down the tray and takes a seat across from Danny. For a moment, Elle looks between the two before deciding to sit beside the older halfa. Not that Jamie minds; it does look less suspect for Elle to sit beside her 'cousin.'

"Here's your drink." Danny pushes one of the cups across the table to Jamie, while the ghost looks over the food. He takes a container of fries before handing one to Elle and then Danny.

Danny grabs one of the double bacon cheeseburgers and Jamie grabs the other. He unwraps it, and lifts the top bun. "This one's yours." He says, exchange the burger in front of him for the one in front of the other boy.

Picking up the burger, Jamie takes a bit. He chews, humming in satisfaction at the taste.

Elle raises a brow. "You like it?"

The boy nods enthusiastically while taking another bite. He's never had a burger before. Well sure, he had knowledge about what a burger should taste like but actually tasting it is a vastly different thing.

Jamie swallows the bite, his eyes momentarily drifting across the restaurant to where Wes is glancing at him heatedly. He averts his eyes. "So….that was Wes Weston?" Jamie questions, addressing Danny.

"Yep." The other halfa says, popping the P.

The ghost boy shakes his head. "He looks like he's losing his mind." He says quietly.

Danny laughs. "Oh yeah."

Elle wiggles her eyebrows. "Is messing with him always that funny?" Her smile turns mischievous. "If he meets Elle Phantom…."

Jamie snorts. "Oh my god, he'd have an aneurysm."

"And if Kyle was there too…" Danny shakes his head, chuckling.

"Yeah, what's up with him?" Elle asks.

"For some reason he thinks I'm an AI?" Jamie raises a brow.

"Kyle isn't actually that bad. He just...uhhh….doesn't believe in ghosts." The older halfa shrugs, grabbing a few fries.

Jamie, who'd been taking a sip of his drink, just about spits it out. "What?"

"Yeah." Danny shakes his head. "For some reason, he thinks it's all a show to attract tourists? He knows I'm….ya know….but thinks it's all done with stuff Mom and Dad make." He takes a sip of his drink. "I think at least half of it is to annoy Wes though."

Jamie chuckles. "Sounds reasonable."

Danny rolls his eyes. He opens his mouth to reply but a yell cuts him off.

"Duplication!" Wes suddenly yells, standing up. "You're duplicating! I bet you think that's clever, showing up as Fenton and Phantom at the same time so there's no way you're the same person."

Danny yells back. "We're not the same person, Wes."

"Yeah! That's his AI brother!" Kyle yells from the counter.

"Shut up Kyle!" Wes yells back.

Valerie bursts through the kitchen door in her uniform, milkshakes in hand. "Will all of you stop yelling?" She takes two steps forward, stopping in front of the table the three siblings are sitting at. "I swear, if you-" It is then she finally looks down. Her eyes flicker between Danny and Jamie, a hint of anger bleeding into her eyes at seeing 'Phantom.' Then she spots Elle. Her eyes widen, flashing between Danny and the younger girl. Her mouth drops open as recognition and realization dawn.

In her distraction, the milkshakes in her hand tip over. Jamie's eyes fix on the cups as they start to fall. Time seems to slow as the drinks fall but he is too shocked to move to stop it. The cups hit and the thick liquid splatters all over the table, a large portion of the oreo mint shake landing on Jamie. The girl glares at him angrily and a memory flashes through his mind.

Valerie on his hoverboard, wearing a similar angry and distrustful expression. She points an ectogun at him, spitting out harsh insults.

Jamie shivers, before glancing down at the thick green spatter on his jumpsuit. If it was a different shade of green…

The girl gaps, her angry expression turning into shock as she panickedly looks between Danny, 'Phantom,' and Elle. Her mouth opens and closes but without a word, she turns around and runs back into the kitchen. The doors swing closed.

All three halfas stay silent for a small eternity, looking to the door with shock-wide eyes.

Then three voices in unison. "Shit."


	7. Glowstick

Valerie gaps, her angry expression turning into shock as she panickedly looks between Danny, 'Phantom,' and Elle. Her mouth opens and closes but without a word, she turns around and runs back into the kitchen. The doors swing closed.

All three halfas stay silent for a small eternity, looking to the door with shock-wide eyes.

Then three voices in unison. "Shit."

As soon as the word is out of his mouth, Jamie snaps his mouth shut, internally screaming. His heart pounds in his chest quickly enough to make him feel light headed.

Across from him, Danny curses under his breath. "Shit. Shit. Shit. Oh f-ck. Shit."

Elle is quickly looking between her two brothers. "What do we do? What do we do?"

"I don't know. I don't know." Jamie coarsely whispers. He pokes the boy across from him. "Danny. What do we do?"

The oldest halfa looks up, eyes wide with panic. He holds up his hands. "I don't know." His voice sounds not angry, but lost.

The tone makes Jamie's heart hurt. At once, he's reminded; though they've settled into this dynamic of Danny as the leader, mostly because he's the oldest, he's still a kid who's just as out of his depth as Jamie himself feels.

Danny has his head between his hands. "She knows. She knows. Or….she figured something out. Or…" His head turns to the side, looking at Elle. "She knows you as Phantom's cousin, not Fenton's. And she knows about…..."

Danny trails off, paleing. His eyes nervously flicker to the still closed door that Valerie disappeared through and Jamie can tell he's wondering the same things he himself is. What is she doing right now? What is she thinking?

"She's never seen Fenton and Phantom side by side." Jamie whispers. "But now…."

"We should go." Danny quickly turns his legs to the side of the booth and stands. "Come on." He motions the other two halfas to follow.

Jamie nods in acknowledgement. He floats off the seat, looking at the table sadly. It's covered with quickly melting milkshakes and soaked half eaten burgers and fries. He then looks down, remembering the spilled shake on his outfit. He flickers intangible, allowing it to fall through him and...he winces….onto the booth. He frowns, a small part of him feeling bad for whoever will have to clean this up. Another small part of him is upset about getting to only eat half of his first cheeseburger ever and none of that shake. But the larger part is still freaking out about Valerie.

"Come on." Danny repeats, tapping his arm. A small measure of his brother's anxiety pokes Jamie's core from the contact, adding to his own.

The ghost boy swallows, muttering. "Yeah. I'm coming."

Again, Jamie's eyes flicker around the room, keenly noticing the gazes focused on the group. Gazes that are mixtures of judgemental, questioning, and curious. The same group of band geeks talk quietly but almost frantically among themselves. Mikey looks up, briefly meeting his green eyes. The other boy's mouth instantly snaps shut and he averts his gaze. A second later, Jamie also looks away, blushing in shame. He bits his lip, nervously and his gaze travels to Wes and Kwan. The red-head studies the group with crossed arms and furrowed brow, his puzzled expression very clearly displaying the wheels turning in his head.

The three pass the counter, earning a sober and subdued wave from Kyle. Danny pushes the door open. Elle and then Jamie follow him out. The currently human boy looks purposefully around the parking before turning left, towards the back of the restaurant and the dumpster they landed behind not that long ago. He fast walks around the building before ducking behind the dumpster, obvious tension rolling off of him. A similar tension stiffens Jamie's posture and even Elle's.

Soon three are safely hidden from the parking lot and street. Danny runs his fingers through his hair, looking side to side. "I can...I'll….I'll talk to her later. Just...let's...let's just go home." As soon as the words are out of his mouth, the white ring begins materializing around his waist.

"Turn around." A harsh voice suddenly rings out.

Jamie's heart just about stops. Valerie. The ghost boy puts his hands up. At the same time, the energy of Danny's transformation winks out. His head turns to the side to look at Jamie and then Elle, his expression silently saying to do as Valerie said. Biting his lip, the ghost boy turns around in the air. His eyes fall on the girl and his breath catches in his throat. Clad in her red and black armor, Valerie stands in the gap between the dumpster and the wall, blocking their exit via the ground. With a shaking hand, she holds an ectogun in front of her.

"Valerie." Danny's soft voice sounds behind him, tinted with hurt.

"Tell me what the hell is going on." She demands, her eyes quickly flickering between Jamie's face and someone behind him.

"Valerie, put the gun down." Danny pleads.

"No!" She spits out the word. "Phantom! Tell me what's happening."

Phantom...who's….Jamie's mind sputters, trying to register what's happening, what's being demanded of him through his panic.

"Val. He's not-" The currently human boy starts.

The Huntress cuts him off, taking a step forward. "Phantom! What the hell are you playing at?"

Her eyes bore into Jamie's. He stutters. "I...I don't…"

"I bet you think messing with me is so funny, don't you, you f-cking glowstick?!" She waves the gun. "It's not!"

Jamie backs up, his mouth opening and closing. Behind him, Danny yells something he doesn't hear. All his mind can register in the furious huntress in front of him. She grits her teeth. "You disgusting...I thought...I thought Wes was crazy. Duplication trick." She scoffs. "There was no way...You're not…." Valerie's gaze moves from his face to Danny's and back. "Why do you look like him?"

Why does he look like Danny? Well…..there's a long explanation involving cloning there but that's not what she's asking. Despite himself, Jamie whispers. "I think you know why." He glances to the side, seeing Elle out the corner of his eye.

Valerie's gaze follows and she tenses, eyes widening for a moment as if she caught his meaning. Then a moment later, her face hardens in pained disbelief. "No. You're….you're a liar, like every other ghost." The hand holding her gun shakes. "You're tricking me. This is a trick, to...to…." She trails off, unsure, before squaring her shoulders and drawing the gun higher. "I should….I should just shot you, right now, you-"

"Valerie!" Two voices, Danny's and Elle's, behind him yelp.

A moment later, someone is pulling Jamie backwards. He stumbles (when had he touched down on the ground?) and Elle's arms wrap around him, an act that might be to protect him or to sooth him or the younger girl.

"Put the gun down." Danny demands, still in human form and now standing between them and the huntress.

"Get out-" Valerie barks, gaze focused on the only halfa in ghost form. She takes another step forward.

"I'm Phantom!" The older boy shouts, panicked. "I'm the one your mad at, not him."

The huntress's eyes fix on Danny's face. "No you're...you're not…" Her lip quivers.

"Yes. I am." Danny says, voice earnest.

Valerie shakes her head. "No. Phantom's...that ghost's right behind you so you're not-"

"Jamie, turn back." The demand cuts the girl off. The boy glances back and for a moment, Jamie could have sworn he heard wrong. "Turn back." His brother repeats, more harshly.

The ghost boy blinks. "But…"

"Do as I say! Turn back." Danny demands,

For a moment, he takes his eyes off of Valerie to look fully at the other halfa and in a moment, Jamie can feel all the panic and fear just below the harsh demand. Meeting those icy blue eyes, Jamie understands; the huntress is much less likely to shoot someone who looks human. With barely a thought, Jamie summons the rings. They travel up and down his body and again he's heavy and warm. Human.

Valerie's eyes widen, frantically looking between the two now truly identical boys. In her shock, the aim of her gun lowers but it does not drop. Her mouth opens and closes; she looks less angry and more afraid.

Finally she addresses Danny. "That light….earlier, right before I…" Before she walked up and turned a gun on them. She swallows, whispering. "What are you?"

Danny's voice is also low. "Jamie's right. I think you know."

"Who's…." Her eyes fall on the other boy, who looks down blushing. The huntress's mouth closes and she shakes her head. Her gaze falls on Elle. "You're...you're like her." The words are so quiet, Jamie can hardly make them out. And they are so, so pained.

"Yes." The oldest halfa answers. "I'm half ghost. The other ghosts call people like me...and Elle and Jamie….halfas."

"And….you're actually Phantom." The huntress's voice hitches, unsure like she does not want to believe it but sees no alternative.

"Yes." Danny looks down. "I am. And...I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything that happened between us. For not stopping Cujo and getting your dad fired. For that time Skulker kidnapped us and revealing you to your dad. And-"

"It was all a lie." Valerie suddenly cuts in, moisture collecting in the corner of her eyes.

"What...Valerie, no."

"It was. I thought...I thought you were my friend." Her voice shakes.

Danny opens and closes his mouth. "I am your friend."

"We...we dated. I liked you and I thought…." She blushes before her face hardens. "But you were tricking me, trying to get me to trust you, to lower my guard."

The halfa shakes his head. "Val, you know that's not true."

"Don't call me that." She points at him. "You lied to me about...about everything! I...I don't even know who you are now."

"I'm the same Danny you became friends with at the beginning of freshman year." He pleads, earnestly.

"No. That's bullshit. You're...you're Phantom, the ghost that ruined my life! How do I know you're not just pretending to be human?!"

"Do you really think that?" Elle's voice cuts in.

The huntress' gaze shifts to look at the girl, her eyes widening as if she forgot that she and Danny were not alone. "What?"

The younger girl lets go of Jamie and takes a step towards the pair of teens. "Do you really think he's just pretending?"

Valerie's mouth opens and closes but no sound comes out.

"Danny told me how he convinced you to help him save me. He told you I wasn't just a ghost, I was human too. And you didn't think it was a trick or I was pretending to be human. You believed me. You thought I was worth saving." Elle's face scrunches up, clearly hurt. "After Danny, you were one of the first people to ever care about me at all."

Valerie blinks, taking in the statement. "I did...I do think that."

The girl frowns, a hint of anger flashing across her face. "Then why are you being such a jerk to Danny?"

The huntress visibly blushes. "I...well...he…"

Elle holds up her hands. "I don't know everything that happened between you two but whatever happened, Danny's not some evil ghost. He isn't the type of person to trick you just for the heck of it."

"But he still lied to me." Valerie frowns, less angry than before but still defensive.

"Well that's not an excuse to corner the three of us with a gun!" The ghost girl balls her fists.

Frowning, the huntress eyes the gun still in her hand. Angry flashes on her face at the accusation but guilt does as well. Something in the expression compels Jamie to step forward beside his sister. With the fear of the confrontation lessened, the halfa's own anger at being doubly wrongly accused rises.

"Elle has a point." His eyes narrow. "I don't appreciate being threatened for something neither Danny nor myself did."

"Guys." The older boy held an arm out, addressing the other two halfas. "I'm not completely blameless here."

"No, they're right." Valerie cuts in, looking down in shame. She reholsters her ectogun. "I'm sorry. I...I overreacted. Yeah, I'm angry and confused but I shouldn't have come after you guys with my gun coaked. But still…" She motions to Jamie before looking at Danny. "Who the heck is the glowstick?"

The clone glances down at his distinctly not glowing hands. He wrinkles his nose in skeptical confusion. "Glowstick?"

The huntress waves his confusion off. "Yeah, you. This isn't that duplication trick, right?"

Jamie rolls his eyes. "Again, I'm not a duplicate."

"I got that. Then who are you?" The girl raises an eyebrow questioningly.

Well, that is the question, isn't it? Jamie sighs, biting his lip nervously. "Well, my name's Jamie and I'm...uhh…." He points to Danny. "I'm his clone."

"His clone?" The girl blinks. "But...you're not a duplicate?"

"No, he's not." Danny frowns, taking a step back to pat his brother on the shoulder. "Think of us like….identical twins but uh….not born at the same time."

"Okay?" The huntress looks between the two thoughtfully, before looking at Elle. "And Danielle…..are you really his cousin?"

"No." The girl swallows, looking down. "I'm a clone, like Jamie."

"You're both clones." Valerie repeats dumbly. "Really? You're both clones?"

"Yes." Jamie repeats flatly. Part of him understands her bewilderment; he's confused just about everyone that's met him. But how is she struggling this much with the fact that they're clones, but managed to accept that Danny was Phantom? Then again….maybe she was avoiding a more emotional revelation with this one.

Danny wrinkles his brow. "Yeah, they are. But I think I speak for all of us when I say, we preferred being called siblings."

"Siblings?" The huntress puts a hand on her head.

"Yep. My twin brother." He pats Jamie's shoulder again. "And my little sister." He offers Elle a smile, comfortingly squeezing her arm.

"Okay. Alright." The girl shakes her head. "And how do you have two clones?"

Danny bites his lip. "It's a long story." He looks at Elle. "Do you feel comfortable telling her what happened or….."

Just then, the sound of a phone ringing broke through, startling the group. Jamie looks around frantically before realizing that sound was vibrating from Danny's pocket. He points. "It's probably Mom and Dad, wondering where we are." He frowns. "Since I'm sure we're late for curfew."

His brother looks down and pulls the phone out of his pocket. "It is them." His lips turn down. "I need to take this." He hits the button to accept the call. "Hi Mom….Mom, Mom. I'm fine…..Yes, James and Elle are with me….." He takes a few steps back and turns away from Valerie, seeking some privacy for the conversation and thus leaving Jamie and Elle 'alone' with the huntress.

Her green eyes meet Jamie's. "You called his parents, your parents."

The boy shrugs. "They are. They...well….they found out about Danny being half ghost and met me." A small smile crept onto his face. "They welcomed me into the family...and demanded to meet Elle here and that she stay with us."

The younger girl looks up at him, eyes wide with awe. "They want me to stay?"

"Yes. Of course they do." He frowns. "Didn't Danny already tell you that?"

Elle furrows her brow. "Yeah, I think so." She blinks. "It didn't really hit until just now."

Several emotions flicker across Valerie's face but before she can offer a response, Danny walks back to the group. "I gave Mom the short version of what happened but we need to go on home."

She sighs, looking back towards the door of the restaurant. "I need to finish my shift too. Hopefully, I won't get in trouble for running off."

"Do you want to come over tomorrow and...talk about everything?" Danny asks. "I'm sure you have more questions."

The huntress crosses her arms. "Oh, I do have questions." She points. "I'll see you tomorrow and you better answer all of them."

"I will, Val, I promise." The oldest halfa vows. "Come on guys." He motions to his siblings before looking at Valerie again. He bits his lip. "We...uhhh….we need to transform to fly home so uhhh...yeah." He trails off as the huntress raises an eyebrow.

After a moment, she seems to realize what he means. The girl swallows before waving, an attempt to look unbother and casual. "Go ahead."

Despite the huntress's casual permission, anxiety flops in Jamie's stomach. He chances a glance at Danny who nods encouragingly as a ring of light forms around his waist. A moment later, Jamie copies the action. Out the corner of his eye, he sees Elle do that same.

Jamie closes his eyes. The cold energy of his core washes through his veins, the change prickling at his skin. It takes just a second for his familiar ghost form to surface. Passively, Jamie floats off the ground. He opens his eyes, gaze falls on Valerie's tense face.

"Bye, Val." Danny waves, nervousness clear in his voice.

The girl blinks for a moment, studying the ghosts in front of her. Her lip twitches down and she swallows. "Bye, Danny." She says quietly.

Jamie and Elle also wave, following Danny as he starts flying up. Below them Valerie watches, with a tight frown. She notices Jamie's eyes on her and looks down. Again, Jamie wonders what she's thinking, what all she's feeling. He sighs, the entire confrontation swirling in his head. All that shock and confusion. The distrust and anger. Brief guilt and sadness. He's rightfully angry about being threatened and yelled at for something he didn't do when the huntress assumed he was Danny. But….Jamie's core clenches; he can't help but feel hurt by the acquisitions that Danny was tricking her and their friendship wasn't really, even if those insults were not about not him. He glances over at his brother, whose shoulders are ripe with tension. Danny is obviously hurt by all this as well.

Jamie floats over to the other boy, gently elbowing him. "It's gonna be okay. You'll talk to her tomorrow and she'll understand." He offers a smile. "And I'll be there if you need me."

Danny forces a smile as well. "Thanks Jamie. I hope you're right."

Jamie hopes he's right too.


End file.
